Kakashi, the Scapegoat
by ThePlotBunnies
Summary: What if Kakashi had been ordered to kill the Uchiha instead of Itachi? Kakashi must adapt to life as a missing-nin, but faced with the might of his own village, things aren't going to be easy. And when the Akatsuki come looking for a new member, Kakashi's life gets a lot harder. After all, they don't really accept a polite 'No Thanks'. AU. No warnings, no pairings. My first fanfic!
1. Prologue

**Hi everyone, this is my first fanfic, so please don't hate me if it's bad. Reviews are much appreciated, and I will update much more often if I get some (hint, hint). Any advice is awesome, especially since I am new to and so do not know proper etiquette about warnings and stuff. Flames will be used to cook marshmallows. You have been warned.**

**Disclaimer: All of the Naruto franchise belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. This story and its plot belong to me. I am making no profit from this story and it is purely fan-made.**

**-Prologue-**

"You know what has to be done, Hound."

The Sandaime Hokage wanted more than anything to rescind this order. To send Hound back to the ANBU HQ, and forget this had ever happened. But the rebellion would be taking place tonight, and death would have to step in where diplomacy had failed.

But a fate worse than death would be awaiting Hound if he followed through on this order. The order that would destroy so many lives, but save even more. The order to eliminate the Uchiha.

"I will, sir. We _cannot _allow the coup-de-ta to take place. If the other Hidden Villages learn that we cannot control our own clans, it will be the start of the 4th Great Shinobi War. If my role in stopping it is the role of the scapegoat, then it is a part I will play gladly. Do not concern yourself with my fate."

"I will have to send all available ANBU and Jonin after you, Hound. If you get caught, you will be executed and I cannot promise I can save you. Be extremely careful. Now go! Go with the moon, and hunt your prey like the Hound has never hunted before. Good luck."

"It will be done, Sandaime-sama." Kakashi vanished in a blur.

Sarutobi stared at the space where Kakashi had stood less than a second ago, and silently counted down the seconds until the alarm sounded.


	2. Unfriendly Goodbyes

**So here's the latest update in this little saga, I hope it's up to everyone's standards. Thankyou everyone for all of the advice and encouragement, I've tried to follow all your suggestions, and the vote of confidence helps more than I can say. I should probably apologise for all of Tenzou's inner thoughts, I'm not all that great at angsty stuff.**

**Disclaimer: All of the Naruto franchise belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. This story and its plot belong to me. I am making no profit from this story and it is purely fan-made.**

Sasuke Uchiha fell to the ground with a dull thud, to lie in death with the rest of his family. The Uchiha clan was no more. The once-proud clan compound now reeked with the stench of blood and death. Bodies littered the cobbled streets like broken glass, and the moon shone an eerie light upon the whole gruesome scene.

In the centre of the macabre graveyard stood Kakashi.

Kakashi's ANBU uniform was stained with red patches that could only be blood. His hair shone like a wolf's mane in the pale light, and his Sharingan gleamed a menacing scarlet. He no longer wore his Hound mask, it had been replaced with another.

Kakashi was no longer Hound of the ANBU. Now he was the Wolf.

It took the ANBU Team Ro precisely 2 minutes and 39 seconds to find him after the alarm sounded. They came running down the blood-soaked street and into the central courtyard, stopping short as they realised that their quarry stood in the moonlight only 10 metres away, showing his back to them in a subtle act of arrogance.

"Who are you? Explain yourself!" The commanding tone of Mouse barked the order out like a whiplash. With a supreme effort, Kakashi forced his surprise down, deep into the back of his mind. He had been expecting ANBU, of course. He had waited here for them, just so that they could find him. But Mouse was the one operative that he had hoped to avoid. Kakashi had trained Mouse, they had saved each other more times than he could count. Kakashi and Mouse had gone on innumerable missions together, and they had both earned their own titles.

Kakashi the Copy Ninja…

And Tenzou of the Wood Style.

Kakashi slowly turned around to face the ANBU squad, and let a low chuckle escape his lips.

"Well, if it isn't Team Ro. It's fitting, I guess, for my own team to be the first here. Congratulations, by the way, on beating the ROOT agents to the chase. I would have been disappointed if you hadn't."

The moonlight now fell on Kakashi's Wolf mask, illuminating the Sharingan. Tenzou's eyes widened in shock and horror as he recognised his old captain, desperately wanting the murderer to be somebody else, but reality forced the truth down his throat and he had to accept that it truly was his Senpai.

"Kakashi-senpai… Kakashi-senpai, _why?_" The words were desperate, desperate for an explanation. After all, Tenzou was only 16, with no family. Kakashi was like an older brother and father all wrapped into one for him, the closest person in his life. That person was now a mass murderer.

When Kakashi replied, the words were thick with barely controlled insanity. "They wanted to take away my Sharingan, they detested me for wielding it in the first place. They detested Obito, too, for even giving his Sharingan to an outsider. _They all did! _But I've killed them all, every last one of them. Now they can't despise Obito anymore, can't take my Sharingan. The Uchiha are gone!"

With that, Kakashi vanished into the night, leading Team Ro in a chase for his life, other ANBU squads close behind.

Watching from his crystal ball, the Hiruzen could not help but be impressed with Kakashi's masterful façade. Such a shame it would make him a missing-nin.


	3. Hunter and Hunted

**The Bit Nobody Ever Reads:**

**'Kay guys, here's a new chapter for you. I tried to make it a bit longer for you, but I'm just pretty lazy. Thankyou to DarkKinG DevZ for the advice and reviews, it really helps. Thanks to all the other reviewers too. Just a warning:**

**A substantial amount of reviews have asked about Team 7 and what will happen with them. I don't think that they'll be a major part of this fanfiction because at this moment in the timeline they are still in the Academy. I might slip in a role for Naruto somewhere, though, if I'm feeling creative. No promises.**

**Disclaimer: All of the Naruto franchise belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. This story and its plot belong to me. I am making no profit from this story and it is purely fan-made.  
**

* * *

This wasn't going to work. Kakashi had been fleeing at full speed for a whole 24 hours and his stamina was reaching a dangerous low. Any more of this and he would falter. It wouldn't take much, just one misstep, anything was enough for the ANBU to catch up. Well, it was the _ANBU _that was chasing. He'd known it wouldn't be easy to escape _them. _It would probably be better to make a stand now, try something big, than keep running like this until he literally collapsed.

Kakashi skidded to a halt, stopping on the edge of a grassy clearing. The full moon was partially covered, leaving the trees and surrounding area in a dappled silvery light. The night was peaceful, with the sound of hooting owls and chirping crickets riding on the gentle breeze. Long grass swayed, encircling the trees and bushes. All in all, it was a picturesque scene, the kind of place where you stopped to picnic.

If you weren't being chased by the most elite ANBU in Konoha.

Kakashi himself was showing the strain of his extended chase. His ANBU uniform was dirty and smudged on top of the bloodstains, and where his skin was exposed there were multiple scratches. Even Kakashi's hair was more unkempt than normal. However, his weapons were in absolute mint condition. Kakashi had sharpened them to perfection in preparation for the long haul ahead. Even now, the kunai in his hand gleamed like diamond in the silvery moonlight. He had kept his Sharingan eye closed since the massacre, in order to preserve chakra for the chase. But now it was open, gleaming in a shade of red that bore an uncanny resemblance to the blood on his clothes.

Blood-red.

A squad of ANBU from the Inuzuka and Hyuuga clans silently appeared in the clearing. Unlike Kakashi, they had not fought every single member of the Uchiha clan before the chase started, and so were looking decidedly less worse for wear than their quarry. They wasted no time in encircling him, weapons at the ready, although Kakashi's practised eye could tell that they were still reeling from the shock of Hound, _Hound_, becoming a criminal.

The battle started. It was impossible to tell how it started, how in one second they faced in each other and fought the next, but it started.

And within seconds, the ANBU squad realised that the Hound they had been pursuing for 24 hours was a shadow clone.

"I can't believe we fell for something so basic. We're ANBU, for crying out loud. We should be able to see through a simple _shadow clone_." That was Bear, a heavily built dog-master.

"Do not be concerned. We have gained valuable information from this encounter. We can tell that he is not anywhere in this area, other ANBU teams will not need to waste their time looking for him here." Lynx spoke with a cultured accent, like many of the Hyuuga, and his hands moved with sophisticated elegance as he quickly wrote the message and gave it to a carrier pigeon.

The real Kakashi smiled without humour from the shadows as the ANBU team dispersed, not 20 metres from where they had stood. So much for 'not being anywhere in the area'.

* * *

It was raining. Not that that was a surprise. It was always raining in Ame, like the land was crying for the suffering of its people. The Akatsuki base looked over the village, displaying a bleak cityscape that seemed to be built entirely in different shades of grey. Tall spires poked up from gaps between the blocky, concrete buildings.

Konan walked calmly towards the Deva Path of Pein, nothing in her face or demeanour revealing her unbearable excitement. She did not bother with any of the formalities that other members felt were necessary, due to their long-standing friendship.

"Nagato! I have found a suitable candidate to be our ninth member. Kakashi Hatake has recently become a rogue ninja, and left the Hidden Leaf. Word has it that he actually murdered the entire Uchiha clan before making his escape."

The Deva Path looked thoughtful, which Konan knew was a direct reflection of how the real Nagato was feeling. "Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan eye, huh? Very well. Summon Orochimaru for me. Tell him to come _immediately. _We have no time to waste."

"Very well. The Copy-cat Ninja will join us… whether he wishes to or not."

* * *

***Cue dramatic music***

**Well, there you go, I hoped everyone liked it. We got our first look at the Akatsuki, for those who were waiting to see that. Byeeeeeee!**


	4. Invitations

**Hello, world, I am back and NOT DEAD! Shocked you, didn't I? Sorry for the late update, school's started again, and that means homework. And assignments. And assessments. Also, I thought you should know, I have not planned out the storyline at all, except for a few little things I want to include. So, if you have any plot suggestions, I want to hear them (no pairings please). Thanks to all the reviewers, too. You really make my day!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Kakashi would have more battles and Naruto would get some fashion sense. Judging from Naruto's outfit, it must still belong to Kishimoto.**

* * *

Scared. Konoha was scared. After all, if the great and mighty _Uchiha_ could be murdered in a night, where did that leave other shinobi? If Kakashi Hatake _himself_ had turned traitor, who could be trusted? And, most importantly, without the Uchiha, what was to become of Konoha?

Might Gai was, for once, not feeling particularly Youthful. His normally shining (though still ridiculous) hair was slightly duller than normal, his bright green spandex just that little bit darker, and those blinding smiles weren't quite so blinding anymore.

The flaps of the dango shop lifted as Asuma pushed them aside, heading for Gai's table. Unlike Gai, he had taken Kakashi's betrayal rather well. After all, when six of the 12 Guardian Shinobi had staged a coup, he had been forced to fight his old friends and comrades to the death in a brutal and bloody fight with neither side giving an inch. He had learned to retreat to the coldest corner of his mind that night, to kill without hesitation or remorse.

Asuma knew he could do it again, if the time came.

"You know, it's been nearly 2 weeks since you've mentioned the Springtime of Youth. Are you feeling alright, Gai?" The question was asked lightly, jokingly, like nothing was wrong and everything was normal in the world. A complete lie that was greeted with what seemed the longest silence Asuma had ever heard.

"He's gone." Two words, just two words were all that needed to be said. Two words carrying the pain of complete and utter betrayal.

Asuma sighed. This was going to be a difficult conversation. "Y'know, for all we know, the Kakashi that was your 'Eternal Rival' never existed. He was probably just an act this whole time. Look, Gai, Kakashi is obviously insane. I know you two were close, but _please_, just stop pretending that he's still the man you once knew!

* * *

Kakashi stared into the flames of his pathetic fire. It barely provided warmth, but any larger and the ANBU would find it. 2 weeks, and they still hadn't given an inch in their search, despite finding nothing but failure.

He was proud of his ANBU.

Kakashi himself had mostly recovered from his desperate flight, but was still looking decidedly worse for wear. His ANBU uniform was stained with dirt and sweat, covering the remnants of the bloodstains that covered it earlier. He had rubbed charcoal in his hair, to hide its distinctive silver colouring, giving it an unkempt, streaked look.

All in all, a rather depressing scene. One man, tired beyond belief, and a terrible excuse for a fire, in a dark, wet clearing.

And one snake-inclined Akatsuki member crouched in the multiple shadows that stalked the woods in the late evening.

"I know you're there, Orochimaru." Kakashi's voice was quiet, but carried clearly across the still evening air.

Orochimaru rose from his hiding place, grinning with unmasked glee as he approached his target. "Copy Ninja. It's been a while." _Neither friendly nor aggressive. Hopefully, his reaction will show whether he considers me friend or foe. After all, who knows what his true intentions are?_

"What do you want? You haven't shown your face around this place for years."

"Why my dear Kakashi-kun. I come as a humble messenger for powers far greater than my own. They wish for me to relay an offer, an… invitation, if you will."

"And who, or what, are these '_greater powers_'?"

"Why, an organisation, myself a humble member. It is called the Akatsuki, the Dawn, and is made up of unfortunate souls such as yourself. That is, S-Class criminals all fleeing from the might of their home village. We offer refuge, protection, and in return you obey our leader without question." Orochimarus voice was patronizing, as though he was talking to a small child who had asked a silly question. "So what do you say? Will you join us?"

"I have no intention of signing up to your _little club_, Orochimaru. Now begone, before I lose my temper." Kakashi's voice carried clearly the sound of his anger and disgust at the Snake Sanin. What it hid, however, was his apprehension. If Orochimaru decided to try and take him by force, he was in no condition to fight him off. And Orochimaru knew it.

Kakashi smirked slightly, behind his mask. This could actually work to his advantage.

* * *

Rat was one of the best sensory types in ANBU. So if she said she sensed their quarry fighting _Orochimaru_, of all people, they didn't doubt her. They were surprised, of course, but they didn't doubt her. Instead, Locust of the Yamanaka clan alerted all other squads in the area and raced towards the location of the fight.

* * *

Orochimaru was mildly surprised, to say the least, when 3 full ANBU squads landed in the clearing where he was trying to do his job. Not that he let it show. "And what business do you think you have interrupting the fight of two rogues. We are no longer your concern, _ANBU_."

So much for his trademark opening speech. Instead, the ANBU, who were not known for their conversational skills, made the whole messy situation even more complex by attacking both Kakashi and Orochimaru.

Watching all this from his crystal ball, Sarutobi sweatdropped trying to keep track of the situation in his head. _So Orochimaru wants to capture Kakashi, but also kill the ANBU. The ANBU want to capture or kill both Orochimaru or Kakashi, but especially Kakashi. Kakashi just wants them all to leave him alone, and not let the ANBU get injured. This is making my head hurt…_

The three way battle abruptly ended when both Orochimaru and the ANBU realised that Kakashi had used the confusion to his advantage, and slipped away from the battleground. After about 5 seconds of shocked silence, the ANBU and the Sanin dashed off in opposite directions in a desperate race to find the Hound.

* * *

Tenzo of the Wood Style was fiercely loyal to his home village. He would accept any mission they gave him, do anything to protect and serve Konoha.

However, there were two missions Tenzo never wanted to receive.

The first was any mission that could bring him into contact with Orochimaru. The second was any mission that involved hurting his friends.

Now, the Sandaime Hokage was telling him that he was in charge of the squad assigned to hunting down Kakashi. And that Orochimaru was after his old Senpai, too.

Tenzo had never liked Mondays.

* * *

**Hoped you like it! Don't forget to review or I'll set Orochimaru on you! Just kidding. I still don't own Naruto. T_T Don't forget those plot suggestions!**


	5. The Wolf

**Hello, universe! Yes, this update is late, and I'M SORRY! Exams, homework, writers block, etc. The usual excuses. So… I'm not particularly pleased with how this chapter turned out, but when I finally had inspiration for something to happen, I just kinda spewed it onto the page. I'm still open for plot suggestions! Just remember – I have never had any kind of romantic feelings at all full stop, so there's no way I could ever write something with a pairing in it. So no pairings, please!**

**Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto. I am neither Japanese, nor male, nor adult, so what makes you lawyer people think ****_I _****might?**

**To answer reviews and such:**

**InazumaSenshi – Yes, he would find it hard to kill both of them ****_and _****the rest of the Uchiha… but for fear of spoilers I can't explain. Sorry!**

**ShiiroiKitsune21, livvy4243, purpleunicorn1995 and love torisho dragon – thankyou for all the advice! And yes, I have decided to use some of them. But which ones? *cue dramatic music***

**Thanks everyone else for your reviews, too. You are awesome people!**

**Now, after the longest intro in the history of long intros…. ONWARDS TO THE STORY!**

Tenzo was suspicious by nature. As an ANBU, he questioned anything and everything. So it was natural that when Team Ro happened upon three dead ANBU tracking squads, he did not take it as ironclad fact that Kakashi was the killer. Of course, it didn't help that he was still hoping against hope that there was some explanation for this, that Kakashi was still sane or at least saveable, that his own life was not being torn apart every day now, for that was how it seemed.

Just not Kakashi.

Anyone but his Sempai.

"Are you doing alright, Mouse?" Yugao's soft voice jolted him out of his thoughts. "I know this is harder for you than anyone." Of course Yugao knew. She could read a person like an open book, Tenzo included. If only she had picked a different time to care.

"I'll be fine, Shrew. This is just a mission. We are to capture or kill a dangerous rogue. We've done this more times than I could count, why are you worried about me now?"

"You're and ANBU, and that's the most convincing thing you can come up with? You know what I mean – and I'm not worried about you getting hurt."

"So what is it? You're worried I'm mentally unstable? That his betrayal left me a bit unhinged? Just leave me alone, Shrew. _I said I'll be fine_." He was being unfair and he knew it. Yugao was only trying to help, but this was something he had to come to terms with alone.

Yugao didn't reply, instead slowly turning back to her work. She knew that he was hurting on the inside in a way a physical wound can't manage, and she wanted to help, but how could she if he kept pushing her away? _When was it that life got so complex? Before it was just me, Hayate and the mission. Old days._

Kakashi was relatively pleased with his new base of operations. The only two people who knew about it were Orochimaru and Tenzo, but he was fairly certain that they would have forgotten it ever existed by now. It was well disguised, enough that an ANBU would miss it (he had, at least), and close enough to the Leaf that he could get there quickly, if the need arose.

After all, the hollow oak of the Iburi clan was a little-known secret. The bodies of the dead were gone by now, every last scrap fallen victim to the wildlife of the forest. The flickering light of the fire bathed the cavern in a welcoming glow. His warm bedroll was now laid out on the ground, and torches surrounding the walls provided additional light.

Quite a homely cavern, if he did say so himself. Yukimi would have been pleased.

_But what to do now? I've escaped the ANBU for the time being, the genjutsu I placed around the barrier should see to that, and Orochimaru will stop and regroup before coming after me again. And there's no doubt that he will. But I can't stall forever, it will drive me insane. I have to _do _something._

Kakashi looked over at the Wolf and Hound masks hung on the wall. He realised that the only people who knew he was in possession of the Wolf mask were himself and Tenzo.

And at that moment, inspiration struck.

Tenzo was unpleasantly surprised when he discovered that being named impromptu Captain of Team Ro did _not _mean that they would let him get out of all the grunt duties, such as scouting, cooking, etc.

Which was the reason he was currently about 2km from their camp – alone. It was late afternoon, and a golden light bathed the forest in vibrant greens and rich browns. Birds were serenading the onset of evening, in a loud but beautiful chorus.

"Enjoying the scenery, AX183B?" Tenzo froze, and in that moment relived an entire childhood which he had spent years trying to forget.

_Pain_

_Fear_

_Cold_

_Fear_

_Pain_

_Hurts_

_Hurts_

_HURTS!_

There had only ever been one place where Tenzo had been called that name. "That isn't my name, Orochimaru – it never was."

"Tsk, temper, temper. Did you know that you are the only one of my experiments that has ever escaped and lived to tell the tale of it? You caused quite a stir among my pets when they heard, even now, your story seems to bring out an _interesting_ streak of rebellion in them."

"I didn't ask for your life story. Now tell me – are you looking for Kakashi or are you not?"

"Oh, I have my mission. And yes, today it does involve Hatake. But I wouldn't rely on it… AX183B. My mission does not involve you though, and I really wouldn't like to kill one of my _greatest _works of art. So long now – be good!" Orochimaru vanished in an instant, and Tenzo instinctively knew that there was no way he could catch up to the Snake Lord.

Orochimaru smiled to himself from the branches. It was almost cute how easy it was to escape from that particular experiment. And, while the _mission_ may involve Hatake alone, there was no order telling him that he couldn't fulfil his own personal agendas while he was here.

Such as recapturing a certain AX183B.

On the other side of the woods, Genma was tiring. He could feel it, and they could see it. A simple B-Rank to wipe out 10 bandits or so had quickly escalated to an A or S-Rank when the bandits had hired over a dozen rogue ninja to fight on their side.

All in all, it was highly likely that he was going to die today. A shame, really.

Suddenly, a silver-haired man wearing a mask jumped into the clearing, moving with a fluid grace that bespoke an elite. He attacked from behind, dispatching the bandits that had hired the rogues, who fled upon realising that their contract would never be paid.

Genma turned to the mysterious vigilante with a kunai in hand, ready to fight. After all, there was no reason to trust him. All he knew was that they had both wanted the bandits dead. "Who are you and what do you want?" It was less of a question and more of a command: _explain yourself or prepare for a battle._ The answer he received was less than satisfactory.

"I am the Wolf."

**To help with some confusion:**

**The hollow oak that Kakashi is now living in ****_is_**** the same oak from the Kakashi ANBU arc. The Iburi clan was that clan with the ability to turn into smoke (Or at least that's what Narutopedia says they're called ****J****) And Tenzo's experiment number is just something I made up. Also, the emotions in italics when he meets Orochimaru are flashbacks to his past. In case you were wondering.**

**Story Recommendation – I'm probably going to do this for every chapter from now on.**

**Today, our story is… It's For a Good Cause, I Swear! A hilariously funny fanfiction in which Team 7 goes back in time, it includes evil soulless puppets. Need I say more?**

**Remember to review, especially with those plot suggestions!**


	6. Checkmate

**Yo guys! I AM SO SORRY. Here is a recap of what happened last chapter (because it was more than 10 weeks ago. 10 WEEKS! I am feeling really awful.) The rest of the a/n will be at the bottom, so I don't spoil the chapter. T**

**Reviews to be answered:**

**To the mysterious Guest: ****_Thanks a bunch! This means a lot to me. I'm not sure if you will see this, but I hope you do._**

**To Hakazu: ****_Oh, don't you worry, Kakashi will not stop fighting. He's got a home to protect, after all! Thanks for your support._**

**To Yungsun: ****_Thanks! It's good to know what chapters went well and which ones didn't, so short reviews are helpful too!_**

**_Start of recap._**

_Orochimaru smiled to himself from the branches. It was almost cute how easy it was to escape from that particular experiment. And, while the mission may involve Hatake alone, there was no order telling him that he couldn't fulfil his own personal agendas while he was here. _

_Such as recapturing a certain AX183B_.

_Suddenly, a silver-haired man wearing a mask jumped into the clearing, moving with a fluid grace that bespoke an elite. He attacked from behind, dispatching the bandits that had hired the rogues, who fled upon realising that their contract would never be paid._

_"Who are you?"_

_"I am the Wolf."_

**_End of Recap._**

**1 Week After the Events of ****_The Wolf_**

It was a good thing that the ANBU weren't on his tail anymore. Fire had pretty much given up on finding him, which was probably as much the work of the Sandaime as anything. It was the small luxuries that counted in this world, after all. Cooking his food, for one. Bathing in the steam was nice, too. An added bonus was that he had seen neither hide nor hair of Orochimaru, after their first encounter. There were still a few teams that hadn't either given up or been called back in, but never let it be said that Hatake Kakashi wasn't as paranoid as any ANBU. However, for now, he could start to relax just a little.

Not that he wasn't working. He had actively served the Leaf since he was five years old, when he graduated from the Academy. There was no way he could (or would) stop now. Not that he could let anyone know that.

The Wolf was a good compromise. Vigilantes, though not common, were not rare enough to warrant a full-on search. Last he checked, there was a standing order to capture the Wolf on sight, but no teams sent to actively pursue him.

That worked in his favour. He made a point of only helping out those in dire situations, but appeared rarely enough to become something of a campfire story. The most current explanation for the Wolf was that he was the vengeful spirit of Hatake Sakumo come to repent for his son's deeds. The acknowledgement of his father made him smile.

Blood.

That was the first warning Kakashi got that something had gone wrong, the metallic smell of human blood. Lots of it, too. And directly ahead. But that wasn't the reason why sweat was quietly drenching Kakashi in fear. Nor was it the reason that, for a split-second, there was a very real chance he would lose control and go on a homicidal rage.

No, that was because the blood he smelt belonged to Team Ro. His _family_.

_Closer_.

He had to hurry.

_Closer._

The scent was getting stronger.

_Closer._

What the hell were they doing out here? (In his heart, he knew the answer to that one).

_Closer_.

Just a little more.

_Closer._

He'd be damned if he let anyone die (again).

_There._

Kakashi skidded to a halt in one of the clearings that dotted the great forests of Fire. The afternoon light slid between the dark green leaves of the canopy, illuminating the ground in a golden glow. The rich, brown soil seemed to _glow _with the beginnings of a beautiful sunset, and the light that bathed the forest transformed it from beautiful to breathtaking, illuminating the already incredible beauty of Fire. Illuminating the shining bloodstains, and glinting off the discarded kunai. Making the mortally wounded faces of Team Ro glow in the golden afternoon light.

Kakashi slowly looked at the situation facing him. Lynx, lying unconscious on the ground, blood slowly dying his honeyed hair red from a horrific head wound. It seeped out of the eyeholes in his mask, looking like some kind of sickening tears. _My bishop._

Boar, leaning against an old oak at an unnatural ankle. His leg was twisted in a way that it had never been designed for, and his right arm looked more like a piece of child's putty than a human limb. No matter how today ended, Boar would never fight again. _My rook._

Shrew lay next to her deadly swords, her purple hair the only splash of colour in the entire gruesome scene. Her once-bright blades were darkened with a sticky coating of drying blood – and most of it was hers. A sword's gash ran from her shoulder down to her hip, still bleeding, marring the proud grey of her uniform with bright _(too bright!) _red. _My queen._

And Mouse. His brother in all but blood was the only member of the team still conscious. Kusanagi was pressed against his throat, daring anyone to make a move, as Tenzo stood as still as a rock, his eyes darting from the enemy to his injured teammates. Not that Kakashi was the enemy, but it wasn't like he could let anyone find out about _that_. He had not escaped the fight unscathed, but his injuries were not as serious as his comrades'. Orochimaru couldn't perform his twisted excuse for research on a dead Mokuton user, after all. _My king._

It was checkmate.

"_What do you want with them?_" The words were forcefully growled out of his lips – like they had a mind of their own, and wished to be spoken by a lion, or wold, or other feral beast. Like they were not words for humans. Fitting, Orochimaru supposed. He knew better than anyone else how one could become an animal when the circumstances were right.

"What I want with AX183B here is none of your business. As for what I want with the rest of these fine ANBU, why, the answer is nothing. Nothing at all! And yet, here they lie, bleeding out on this beautiful afternoon.

Do you know _why_ they had to die, Kakashi-kun? It's because they were hunting _you_. Because of you, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, I _could_ save them. I might, even. But not without a price. You understand that, don't you? You can't expect me to offer these fine services of mine for _free_, can you?" Orochimaru was obviously gaining some kind of twisted pleasure out of this, out of watching a proud man squirm under his gaze. It was sickening.

"I admit it, Orochimaru. You've won. You've captured all my pieces in this sick game you're playing. Now what do you want?" Kakashi snarled.

"I think that you can answer that for me, _Kakashi-kun._" Orochimaru was getting more and more eager, just waiting for the inevitable prize for winning this game.

Kakashi's reply was somehow both razor-sharp and even. "You want me to join this… Akatsuki." The word sounded foreign in his mouth.

"That I do. It's a simple deal. In exchange for the lives of everyone here, with the exception of my Mokuton user, you will join the Akatsuki. Do we have an agreement?"

Not like there was any way Kakashi could say no. For all of his skill, Orochimaru was reading him like an open book. And there was nothing he could do about it. From the moment he received the Sandaime's mission, he had started playing a very dangerous game. The kind of game that was more than willing to eat you alive the moment you made the wrong move. Orochimaru was a master of this game. Kakashi had been playing it for a sum total of one week and two days.

This was a Shogi match between a Grandmaster and a novice – the outcome was inevitable.

And so, with all of his instincts screaming at him, and keeping his pride and anger bottled in, he slowly ground out the words: "We do."

At this moment in time, Tenzo was confused to say the least. All reports, all the evidence indicated that the Kakashi-sempai he knew _(had known?) _was just a mask. Just another mask worn by the broken and insane mind that had been twisted beyond recognition by the death of his team. And, eventually, he had shown his true colours.

But this wasn't the kind of move that man would make. _So why the hell is he surrendering for us?_

_Something's going on here. And I intend to find out what it is._

**Omake: This little extra is set in the one week time skip that occurred in between these chapters. It was originally meant to be the start of this chapter, but it didn't flow all that well with the rest of the story. I liked it too much to just delete it, though. So… here we are!**

Kakashi wondered just who it was that were on his tail. ANBU, obviously, for they were keeping pace with him. Trackers, obviously, for they were following him. Not that it mattered. The entire village hated him these days. Not just how they hated little Naruto, not just how they hated ordinary criminals, but they hated him with a passion. If he bothered to ask, he knew that anyone in the Leaf would sell their soul to the devil just for a chance to spit in his eye.

That hurt more than anything, really.

He wondered how Tenzo was doing with the shock. He and his kohai had been closer than the rest of the team – maybe it was something to do with having powers that they wished they had never received. He hoped that Tenzo was getting some nice, easy missions – maybe an escort, or a recon. He'd always been good at those, and they were relaxing, in a way.

A few hundred metres behind Kakashi, Tenzo wondered what was going through the target's mind. _Doesn't matter anyway. He'd kill us all if he had the chance. _

**Soooo….. If you're wondering why this chapter took so long. It's simple – the plot bunnies went on strike. My muse went on a world tour. My idea bucket got emptied into the garden. I'm sure you get the idea. To apologise, it was a longer than normal chapter and I included an Omake, too.**

**All in all, I'm pretty happy with how this chapter turned out. The Orochimaru monologue was INCREDIBLY fun to write. I pictured him as acting kinda like Mao from Code Geass (If you don't know him, he can read minds but the constant voices drove him utterly insane). I think the best scenes in this chapter were the scene where Kakashi sees his dying team, and the Omake. Tell me what you think!**

**PLOT SUGGESTIONS! I ****_kinda_**** have an idea of where I'm going with this now (I have some scenes in my head), but you saw what happens when I have writers block. I'm not ransoming the next chapter just so I get more reviews, ****_I PROMISE_****, but just in case I don't get any inspiration.**

**Please R&amp;R! (Seriously. Please.)**

**Phew! That was a long A/N! ThePlotBunnies is signing out!**


	7. Lessons

**Heyo!**

**It's ThePlotBunnies again!**

**With a chapter that didn't take a billion years.**

**Wow.**

**It's only 800 words.**

**I'm sorry.**

**If I owned Naruto, we'd see more of Team Ro.**

**A/N is at the bottom, so as to not spoil the chapter.**

**Reviews! Advice! Con-crit! Writing tips! Please?**

...oooo0000oooo...

Orochimaru was arrogant. If somebody was following you, but not willingly, you kept your eye plastered to them at all times and never, _never_ showed them your back. Not under any circumstances. All five Kage and the Sage of Six Paths could be in front of you, but you _did not show an enemy your back_. That was the first lesson Minato had ever taught his apprentice:

Trust is arrogance. And arrogance kills.

Orochimaru evidently had not bothered to learn that lesson, although arrogance was so much part of the Snake that he would have significant trouble parting with it anyway. It would be like Gai with no jumpsuits, or Asuma quitting smoking. A wonderful development, but one that was so out of character the world would stop and stare for a good four minutes before shrugging and returning to daily life like nothing ever happened.

All of these thoughts ran through Kakashi's head in a second as he yanked his Chidori out of Orochimaru's back. After he had administered proper care to his team, Kakashi had no more use for the man, and like hell he was joining this… Akatsuki.

"Who are you, _taicho_?" Tenzo's voice ripped him out of his thoughts. His teammate-not-teammate was standing on one of the many patches of grass that lined the Fire woodlands, and he looked none too happy.

"Hatake Kakashi, but I doubt that's what you're asking." Kakashi purred thoughtfully.

"First you're one of Konoha's greatest ANBU captains, and my best friend. Then you're an insane madman who literally offed a clan in a single night, and now you've pulled this incredibly risky stunt to save our hides? I'll ask again, _Hatake Kakashi_, just whose side are you on?" Kakashi smiled inwardly, it looked like the fact that they were enemies now didn't mean that he still didn't know how to push his old friend's buttons.

Eyesmiling, he continued, "I wasn't aware there were sides in this. If any, I am on my side. I have my own goals, and my own set of morals, few as they are. That, however, is all and more than you need to know."

"Quit playing games, Missing-nin. Are you for or against Konoha?" Tenzo growled. It took everything Kakashi had to not stop and flinch. _Missing-nin. So that's all I am to the people I would die for. _

_Missing-nin._

"I've already told you, little Mouse. I don't define sides the way you do. I am against some who call themselves Konohans, but I am for others who do the same. Now take your teammates and scurry on home, night is falling. And the cats are out at night."

The final sentence was like magic, bringing Tenzo to his senses. His hand whipped towards his weapons pouch, reaching for the emergency distress flare.

"And if you try and call your friends before midnight, I think you should know that I have nothing against killing them. Your call."

Reluctantly placing the flare back into its pouch, and recognising that there was no way he could drag three unconscious teammates down the long trek back to Konoha, he began setting up a basic camp in the clearing.

Yet he never showed his back to Kakashi.

...oooo0000oooo...

"No." The Sandaime's reply left no room for argument. He looked under the brim of his hat at the determined young man standing before him.

"But sir, not one of the search teams has contacted the village about my Eternal Rival. I know him better than anyone, I can find him. I _know _it."

"Exactly, Gai. A record number of search squads are out looking for him. The last time we came _close_ to a manhunt of this size was when Orochimaru went rogue. And that means that the village is weak. The ANBU are the foundation of the Hidden Leaf. And with them gone, it doesn't take too strong a wind to topple the building. You're needed here."

Gai's usually cheerful face was unnaturally serious. He _knew_ inside why he (and all the other Jonin) had to stay in the village, but it still hurt. But he was stuck here, wanting more than anything to know the truth, to ask his Eternal Rival his questions and get some straight answers for once, wanting to _know_.

"Yes sir. I understand, sir." He replied, the image of a perfect soldier, barring the jumpsuit. Inside, he made a pact with himself. He would search ever dusty corner of the library, he would speak to everyone who might know something, he would search the Uchiha compound himself, but he would find out everything there was to know about the Massacre. But first, he would wait. The village needed him right now. But he would never forget this promise.

And if he did not succeed, then he would…

No. There would be no self-punishment this time.

Because he would not fail.

...oooo0000oooo...

**You all though I was gonna do and Akatsuki!Kakashi, didn't ya? Surprise! Sorry for those who were looking forward to it, but when I started this story I was planning to explore the life of a missing-nin. I know that a lot of people wanted him in the Akatsuki, and I'm really sorry. As far as Akatsuki!Kakashi stories go, I would recommend 'A New Path Travelled' by KakashiKrazed. It's far better than anything I could write for you guys. **

**Review time (YAY!)**

**lovetorishodragon: Thanks! I try *blushes*. Good on you to predict that one, too. There is pretty much no foreshadowing in this story, because I'm just making this up as I go, so extra points. And as far as Akatsuki partners go… Thanks for the constant support!**

**ShiiroiKitsune: IDEAS! IDEAS! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! If I could give you a hug through my screen, I would. You have ****_no idea_**** how much those plot suggestions help me. Seriously, thanks. And like lovetorishodragon, thanks for always dropping a review! Also, your review gave me a good laugh *obvious cloaks are obvious***

**To The Mysterious Guest (Yes, I'm calling you that now.): Thanks for the concrit, I'll try to keep it in mind. Glad to know that you saw my earlier reply!**

**AntauriFangirl: Thanks a bunch for the vote of confidence. It really means a lot when people say that they enjoy my writing. And I have no intentions to abandon this story, so don't worry about that!**

**tabjoy: Is that… is that… AN IDEA?! Thankyou so much! Ideas are like the diamonds in the gold that is reviews (and yes, that made no sense). Thankyou! Not everybody has given up on Kakashi yet. Questions will be asked!**

**Please remember to drop a review!**

**If I replied to you in a PM, then I replied to you here as well because I have zero organisation skills, so to make sure I don't forget anyone I reply here too.**

**Have an internet cookie! (:::)**

**ThePlotBunnies is…**

**SIGNING OUT!**


	8. What I Fight For

**Hey guys! It's ThePlotBunnies!**

**Because last chapter was pathetic, this one is ****_twice as long_****. It took ages, though. :/**

**A/N is at the bottom, so as not to spoil the chapter.**

Kakashi didn't like his mask. The Hound mask had felt snug and comfortable on his face, almost like a second skin. He had worn it to every major hidden village and several others. Behind its snarling face, he had killed more people than even he cared to remember. In his mask, he had killed and spied and done horrible things in the name of a village.

Kakashi had grown so used to the mask of the Hound that he didn't even notice it anymore.

However, the Wolf mask was different. He felt every move it made when he so much as took a step, continuously reminding him that _your old life is gone_, that _this is who you are now_. That _you are no longer ANBU._

Lynx blinked awake to a steady beeping sound and the smell of supposedly lemon-scented chemicals (who thought that stuff smelled like lemon?). A hospital, then.

Cautiously opening an eye, he winced as the full force of a light washed over him, making him all too aware of a pounding headache. What had happened?

Then it came. Shrew, the first to go down, shouting in surprise as Orochimaru sliced Kusanagi from her hip to her shoulder. Her yelling at them to forget about her, get out of here.

Mouse, turning a pale white when he recognised who he was facing. Being unable to perform a hand seal, his hands were shaking so much. Finally fighting back after watching his teammates drop by flies.

And Boar… Kami, Boar. The last thing he remembered was looking over his shoulder to see a Doton jutsu coming his way, the experience of countless battles telling him that it would be too late to dodge. Seeing a flash of grey and tan coming between him and the jutsu. Watching Boar use all his strength to slow the jutsu, and just before Lynx blacked out, seeing the man on the floor cradling his left arm.

Not caring about the light anymore, he opened his eyes fully, and struggled to get up. He had to find out what happened to his team. He made it into a sitting position before his head swam, a throbbing pain in his already-sore head reminded him of just _where_ the jutsu had hit.

Admitting defeat, he lay down to wait until a nurse came to check up on him.

The Sandaime sighed as he read over the report he held in his hands. There was no point, of course. He had received it two days ago and had memorised it in the first half-hour.

_That team could never keep out of trouble, even when they had a captain, but really? I send them on a retrieval mission and bam! They end up getting thrashed by Orochimaru, of all people._

Now two members of his best ANBU team were never fighting in it again. That was a disastrous blow for such a small team. Five members was ridiculously small, considering that the standard team format was 6-9, but over the years, Team Ro had become like a deadly family. They knew each other so well that even though it wasn't their intention, new members would be routinely ostracised from the group. Which, on missions that the Black Ops took, killed.

Eventually, he had gotten the message and stopped assigning new members.

The last person to join Team Ro and survive the month was Boar (or Rosha, when he was off-duty). He had joined four years ago, putting him at eight times the average service length of 6 months. The longest serving member of the team was the disgraced Hound, who had served for close to seven years.

"SIR!"

The Sandaime blinked in surprise at the yell of the stressed chuunin. Mentally chiding himself (if that had been a kunai rather than a yell he'd be _dead_, goddamit!), he turned to face what was inevitably going to be more paperwork.

"It's the vigilante sir, the one who calls himself Wolf. He was spotted at outpost A3 two hours ago, where he helped drive off a group of missing-nin that were trying to raid the place. He left before he could be apprehended, but not after telling us to 'check co-ords 35 87'. Your orders, sir?!" The harried-looking man was evidently in need of a good cup of coffee, in Hiruzen's opinion.

But back to the matter at hand.

"Send Team Raidou to co-ordinates 35 87." He replied crisply. "Dispatch ANBU tracker squads C-F, as well as hunter squads D and E to the site where the unknown was last sighted."

"Yes sir!" The poor chuunin seemed positively relieved to be given a direct order to follow. "Is that all sir?"

"No." he replied. "Go get yourself a cup of good, strong coffee. That's an order."

"Oh… well… alright sir" The chuunin walked out of the office with a bow, obviously bemused by his last instruction. From under his hat, the Sandaime watched him go.

Tenzo wondered just how real the threat that Kakashi-sempai _no, Hatake_ had made last week. Would he have really killed the reinforcements?

The man had worked in the shadows of the Black Ops for nearly seven years now. He had come close to death countless times in the service of the ANBU, often making it back to Konoha with a gut wound that should have killed him, but somewhere along the way he just decided not to die.

Tenzo remembered the time in rural Mist where their life had been saved by messenger birds with indigestion. That was one to tell the grandkids, he mused.

Would Kakashi really turn on the ones who had been his dark, dysfunctional family since his early teens?

Somehow, Tenzo doubted it.

He had things to find out. Just who did Kaka- _no, Hatake _consider an enemy, and who was he willing to protect? He remembered the pathetic explanation he'd been given.

_"I've already told you, little Mouse. I don't define sides the way you do. I am against some who call themselves Konohans, but I am for others who do the same."_

Just who _was_ Kakashi Hatake? What did he fight for?

Tenzo had questions, and he _would_ find answers.

But before that, he had to wait for his comrades to wake up. They were doing this together, or not at all.

Kakashi grinned to himself. Oh, this was going to be _fun_. He looked at the genin team passing under him – a fresh jonin, and two genin. Briefly he wondered where the third student was, and then was all-too-painfully reminded of just how many Uchiha children he had killed.

Messing with other's minds always had been a hobby, and what's more, there was nothing like a batch of impressionable genin to get the rumour mill turning.

He watched the kids tramp down the uneven dirt road. They were so loud, and… childlike. At twelve years old, they had yet to make their first kill. Just some innocent kids chatting on their way to an outpost.

_This is as it should be – a Konoha where children can be children._

Easing himself out of the tree, he silently dropped to the path behind the ragtag group. The two children, a brunette girl with delicate features that appeared to be an Inuzuka and a tall, lanky red-headed boy were chatting amiably about food.

"And I'm _telling_ you Hana, Mr Ichiraku really gave me a whole bowl for free. Just like that! All you have to do is tell him a joke he likes, and bam! Free ramen!" The girl, Hana, giggled at her teammates' obvious excitement.

"And what if I told you that I'm more of a dango person myself?" She asked, smiling.

The young boy's screech could probably have been heard in Kumo.

"YOU DON'T LIKE RAMEN?"

Walking silently behind them, hands in his pockets, Kakashi smiled.

Showtime.

"You know, personally, I like them both." He remarked amiably.

The young Jonin spun in an instant, kunai in hand. _Ah, so this one earned her rank._

She froze upon seeing the grinning wolf mask that hid his features.

"I really wouldn't bother, jonin-san. I don't want to fight you, and quite frankly, you can't beat me." He remarked.

The forested area around the sunlit path dropped several degrees, as the woman let loose her killing intent. "Vigilante," she growled, "if you take so much as one step towards my students, _I will rip you to shreds._"

"Temper, temper. You won't advance if you can't keep a cool head, you know." He chided back. "Oh, and by the way? Don't continue down this path. A rather gory battle took place about an hour ago, and your brats don't need to see it."

Sending a wind slice at the enemy, Atarashi Faita smirked in triumph. The guy talked big, but from what she could see through the wind, he'd been totally destroyed in one strike. Reports said she was meant to take him alive, but this bastard could've (_and probably would've_, she thought darkly) harmed her students. After losing Ahiru in the Massacre, she was doubly determined to protect the kids still in her care.

Suddenly, she felt the sensation of cold metal at her throat – a kunai. Sliding her eyes to the right, she caught a flash of red and white behind her. _But how?_ She thought desperately.

Then, just as fast as it arrived, the sensation vanished. "Don't underestimate the enemy," the enemy – Wolf – commented mildly, kunai now dangling by his side, "because there's a very good chance it'll get you killed someday. Well – ja ne!

The vigilante vanished back into the woods. Atarashi didn't bother following him, she was more than outclassed. Turning to her shocked students, she gently took their shoulders and turned them back the way they came. "Come on, guys. We can deliver the message to the outpost later, and besides, this needs to be reported to the Hokage."

Watching the Jonin as she comforted her students, Kakashi felt more content than he had since the Massacre.

_Yes. This is what I fight for._

**Just so you guys know, Atarashi Faita literally means 'new fighter' in Japanese, and Ahiru means 'duck', in reference to Sasuke's hair.**

**Also, after about a week I will not be updating til mid-January. Just letting you know so I don't instil the 'dead-fic' fear in you.**

**Major milestone was reached last chapter – we have officially broken the 50 review boundary! I can't believe it – you guys are the best. It warms my heart to know that readers have cared enough to type something and click 'review' 50 times! Also, 68 follows and 53 faves. Woohoo! Ya all rock!**

**To the reviews:**

**Fallen's Child: Thankyou! I like doing stories that haven't been done before, because otherwise I find myself comparing my work to other author's. I'm kinda just making up the storyline as I go along, though. :P**

**KaiaRenkin: That would be spoiling it, though! ^_^**

**KumorikoKumoriko: Yeah. Kakashi wasn't super-close to anyone, so he killed them all (including Sasuke and Itachi).**

**Tabjoy13: First, your impression of Orochimaru's inability to die made my day. We're ****_past canon _****and he's still just a backstory-less creep that can't die. I'm sorry that the chapter was short (I hope this one was better), but I'm glad you liked it! Thanks a bunch for the ideas! I'm honestly not sure if the truth will ever come out ****J**

**half truths: Glad to know you liked the idea. I do try to make my chapters longer, but I find it hard to force good content sometimes. What animal Tenzo's mask is never actually confirmed, but most fics have it as either cat or mouse. I just picked one of those two.**

**Ifoaihfoiafoiaih: Da hell was dat?**

**love torisho dragon: I'm not sure if this fic will continue long enough to see Naruto and Sakura graduate… I sure hope it does, though! Not sure where Jiraiya is in this fic right now – probably peeping on girls and managing a spy network somewhere. He might have a role in this fic though, or he might not. I don't think the Akatsuki is going to forget this one! And after all that *takes deep breath* thanks for the review!**

**Kujyou12: Glad you liked it! I sure will ****J**

**And lastly, to the mysterious Guest: Dear Guest, I have no clue who the heck you are (not meant in a mean way, just a joking reaction to your review). Glad to know you like the story, but don't worry, it was never abandoned :D! Thanks for dropping by!**

**…That was just 317 words of review answering…**

**Well, til' next time, 'cause ThePlotBunnies is signing out!**


	9. Motion

**Hi! **

**I know it's late, I was on holidays during my hiatus without access to Word and then I had writers block. But hey, I got it out before February, right?**

**If you have any advice/story ideas I'd love to hear them. I'm pretty new to this writing thing, still. I promise not to be offended :)**

* * *

"Pein-sama!" Sasori burst through the doors to Pein's private (read: PRIVATE) quarters at 2am, and was promptly assaulted with the full force of his leader's killing intent. He wondered how anyone could be so terrifying when lying on their futon in pyjamas.

"This had better be good, Sasori. _Very good_. I was asleep, an-"

Pein's threat was cut short by his obnoxious subordinate. "It's Orochimaru, they found his body!" Pein was instantly all business. Rising off his futon, Pein pulled his Akatsuki robe over his pyjamas and locked intense purple eyes on Sasori.

Sasori was suddenly reminded why Pein was the one in charge. When he got serious he was _deadly_.

"Cause of death?" His leader demanded briskly.

One thing that Sasori was always taught in Sand was _never be the bearer of bad news_.

"A Raikiri, sir. It was Hatake's work."

The only reason the room stayed intact was because it was Pein's private quarters. Instead, a blast of killing intent permeated the building, strong enough to make normal shinobi fall to their knees.

The Akatsuki were not normal shinobi. In fact, they were anything but.

"And _what_, precisely, made Hatake attack Orochimaru?" Pein asked icily. "Was he not under instructions to offer Kakashi Hatake anything within reason to join us? Was he not ordered to not resort to aggressive means unless absolutely necessary, that a willing member was a much easier alternative?"

Sasori was starting to understand his old teacher's words. Now _he _got to be the one to answer all of these awkward questions.

"I… I don't know, sir. My best guess would be that Orochimaru, in his insanity, forgot your instructions and did something to anger Hatake. That, or Hatake just attacked him on sight due to Orochimaru's reputation in Leaf."

This was getting worse by the second, Sasori thought nervously. His leader wasn't known for his forgiving nature, and implying that Orochimaru was not the best operative for the job could easily be read as telling Pein he gave the wrong orders.

"A reputation well deserved by our one-time comrade." Pein remarked mildly, now looking out to the grey countenance of Rain with his back turned to Sasori. "Orochimaru was many things, but decent was not one of them."

"That is true." Sasori replied, internally relieved that he was still alive. _No one _questioned Pein's orders.

"Leave me for now. I will think on the matter."

Sasori bowed and exited the room, thankful that he was still able to do so.

* * *

Kakashi relaxed on a grassy bank at the edge of the clearing surrounding the Iburi's old haunt. The cheerful sound of chirping birds clashed with his own panting at the harsh training regime he was putting himself through. He had to be strong.

From what Orochimaru had said, there was a band out there somewhere, the Akatsuki, comprised of S-ranked criminals. That meant that they had a leader, strong enough to keep members that powerful in line and obedient.

Such a thing was unheard of in the shinobi world.

And if that wasn't enough, the very same band would either be out for his blood or service_. Akatsuki couldn't be too large, _he mused_, T&amp;I would've noticed the if too many S-rankers suddenly dropped off the radar._

That meant that they would notice the disappearance of one of their members. His killing of Orochimaru hadn't exactly been subtle, after all.

The big question was, did they still want him in to join them? Or did they want to use his death as an example to any others who would fight the Akatsuki? Either way, there was no way they intended to let him go.

So not only did he now have Konoha on full alert for him (which, unfortunately, was famed for its tracking Kekkai Genkai), he also had a limited amount of time before hunters from the other four Great Nations caught his scent.

With the Uchiha annihilated, there was one Sharingan walking around, and it was under no village's protection. Especially with Kumo, infamous for their love of doujutsu, it was a race between the Hidden Villages to see who would possess the last Sharingan.

The one thing he could be sure of was that if he was found by any of the other nations, his eye would be removed and he would be interrogated on everything he knew and then executed.

If he got caught by Konoha, the Sandaime might be able to stage a fairly realistic escape for him. _Might_.

One thing was for sure, he couldn't just sit and train for much longer. The Iburi's oak (he had yet to think of it as his) was an excellent hiding place to stay in, but it was only about a week's direct travel from Konoha. With the full force of the ANBU still out for his blood, he was a sitting duck where he was. The real question was where he should go.

Wind country? Too unhospitable. Lighting? He didn't know the terrain. Earth? Stone was infamous for its far-reaching and vigilant patrols. Fire? Was still teeming with ANBU.

None of the smaller nations were an option either. Due to the lack of major hidden villages, they were considered safe havens for nuke-nin who wouldn't appreciate an intrusion on their turf. The only way to manage there was to build yourself a reputation, which would effectively broadcast his location to shinobi everywhere.

Which left him… Water Country. _That might actually work…_ the civil-war embroiled Mist had closed off borders years ago, allowing nobody in or out. All contact had been terminated with long-term plants in Konoha, and any spies sent in never came out. Latest reports said that none of the other villages were any wiser as to the state of the final Great Village.

These days, only an idiot tried to venture into Water territory uninvited. Even if the patrols dared to follow him there, they would have to write back to their various villages, asking for express permission to do so.

Giving him a week's head start into the mysterious nation.

It was a risky move, but the only one available to him. He'd survived worse odds.

* * *

"SIR!" The Sandaime huffed under his hat. Weren't shinobi meant to be _quiet_, for Kami's sake? Suppressing a groan, he called the overly stressed chunin/glorified-secretary into his office.

"What is it, Urusai?" He asked once the man had composed himself.

"The co-ordinates given to us by the unknown vigilante known as Wolf have been investigated, sir! There were no signs of a struggle, but blood was found in the area. We have taken a sample for analysis, which should take 5-7 days to complete."

"Thank you for your report." Sarutobi closed his eyes as he mulled over this new information. Cracking one open, he saw that the chunin was trying (failing) to be subtle in communicating that he had something more to say. "Whatever you have to say, Urusai, let's hear it."

Taking a breath, Urusai slowly and quietly said "Sir… according to the Inuzuka on the squad…" He trailed off.

"Out with it, shinobi." The Sandaime was quickly losing patience.

Urusai composed himself before finishing. "… the whole area stank of Orochimaru."

Hiruzen's eyes widened minutely. Which, considering that he was the hokage, showed a huge level of shock. "I see…. Thank you for telling me. You are dismissed."

Urusai bowed and quietly left his leader to himself.

As soon as the door shut, Sarutobi was all business. Orochimaru was dead – he had been killed by Kakashi. Somebody had taken his body, who was neither Hatake nor Tenzo. The real question here was _who_.

_Just who is this Akatsuki? And how long can I keep it quiet?_

* * *

5.3 seconds. That's how long it took his top messenger to reach him after being called. _Acceptable_. _Barely._

Shimura Danzo looked down at the kneeling agent in front of him. "Hatake Kakashi's Sharingan cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands. It is too valuable now. Kill him and bring back his eye by any means necessary. Spread the word to squads, Gamma, Delta and Omega." He commanded.

The agent vanished without a word.

_Not only would this prevent the Sharingan from falling into enemy hands, Hatake had already proven that he could not permanently keep up the façade of a villain. This would prevent any… mishaps on his end._

Dead men didn't make mistakes. All in all, and elegant solution to the Uchiha problem.

* * *

After much valiant fighting (read: whining) on his part, Taki, known as Lynx when on-duty, had managed to get the entire squad in the same hospital room. He had called it a skilled demonstration of manipulation. Yuugao had called it whining.

Whatever the means, the end result was a large and pleasant hospital room with a single window. Curtains fluttered to let in the warm summer breeze, warming the boringly white room. _These rooms need a serious makeover. Or paintjob. Or anything that makes them less… white._ A voice jolted Taki out of his thoughts.

"'Kay guys, I think we all know what we need to talk about. I know that we decided to leave this matter until we were all awake, but the med-nins say that it'll be at least a week before Rosha wakes up, and rumour has things are getting very messy, very fast." Tenzo started off their unofficial meeting, and was met with a long silence disturbed only by Rosha's steady breathing into his oxygen mask.

Their meeting was being held on the four beds up against the walls of the room. Somehow, the topic of conversation dulled even the brightness of the summer's day.

Finally, Yuugao sighed and spoke up. "The taichou's – or Hatake's, take your pick – actions scream of insanity. He massacred the Uchiha without a qualm, but didn't kill a single ANBU in his escape, and saved our hides with Orochimaru." Despite her confident words, she didn't look too convinced of her once-taichou's madness.

"When I confronted him about it, he told me that villages didn't matter to him, and he had other methods of determining who he considered an enemy. By the way, we're under orders to keep Orochimaru's fate quiet until it gets 'officially discovered'." Tenzo put in.

Taki spoke up for the first time. "But why the hell would Sandaime order that? I mean, what's the point? That snake-creep being... you know what… takes variables out of a _lot_ of metaphorical equations, if you know what I mean. And what purpose is there in covering it up?"

"I say that we go to the Hokage. Even if he doesn't explain it to us, we might get some answers indirectly." Yuugao suggested. The others thoughtfully considered her idea.

"Seconded."

"Thirded."

"Let's do this."

* * *

"It is not your place to ask me that, _shinobi_." The Sandaime glared dangerously. "Now leave before you say something you regret."

To their credit, the four Black Ops bowed professionally and left in a blur. It was only once they were back in their unofficial hideout that the heated discussion began.

"He essentially told us to shut up and get out. He never does that, not to us!" Taki exclaimed.

"But we did find something out. The big brass _are _trying to cover something up." Tenzo replied grimly.

"Whatever it is, we need to know. It has something to do with the Taichou, and I want to know _exactly _what happened before writing him off as a nutcase" Yuugao stated firmly.

"I say we make a pact right now." Taki suddenly spoke up. Yuugao and Tenzo started in surprise.

"A pact?" Tenzo asked curiously.

Taki smiled grimly. It was not a smile that many people survived seeing. "Yeah, a pact. I say that we find out everything about the Uchiha massacre, down to what the last grandma ate for breakfast that morning. I say that we swear to work out what is going on up there with the bigwigs. " He gestured to the Hokage Tower.

Yuugao raised her eyebrow. "That's dangerous talk, Taki... I like it."

"I'm in too." Tenzo quickly added. "He was… important… to me, and even if he wasn't, whatever you guys do, I'm there all the way."

The atmosphere in the room eerily reminded Tenzo of a pack of wolves on the hunt. Eager, and ready for the kill.

_Before you say anything you might regret. _The Sandaime's words floated around in his head.

Was he the only one who read that as not a threat, but a warning?

* * *

**So to clear up any clarifications, the Sandaime knew that Orochimaru was dead from Tenzo's report when he and the gang got back. However, if people knew that Oro was dead they would start asking who killed them, and when they found out it was Kakashi questions would be asked. So to be safe Hiruzen covered up his death so it to be 'discovered' under mysterious circumstances later.**

**Fic rec is... Team 7's Ascension: Blood Wings. Gives a dark take on the Narutoverse. AMAZING Team 7 adventure fic. Kakashi is both a troll and totally kicks butt.**

**Review answering time! (If I replied to you in both a pm and here, it's because my organizational skills are terrible so to be sure you get answered I answer everyone here)**

**Fallen's Child: I'm glad to know that you liked it! Thanks for holding out while I was away ^_^**

**Angel Hatake: Not only to I love your username, here's more for you :)**

**tabjoy13: Well, Tenzo's not going to take it lying down, that's for sure! Don't worry, everything's fine. I was just without access to my laptop for a while. Thanks for caring!**

**love torisho dragon: Thanks! I'm glad to know that you liked it. Sorry this one's late…**

**Siplinzel1: Your praise warms my heart ^_^. No, Kakashi hasn't joined the Akatsuki as of now, but they wanted him to join.**

**sparksofrandomness: I'm glad you liked it – here it is!**

**See you next time – **

**ThePlotBunnies is signing out!**


	10. Flight

**I'm sorry! **

**It's so late. And shorter than normal. My only excuse is that my muse abandoned me and real life shoved itself in my face.**

***Ducks under bench to avoid flying objects***

**This one's pretty short, only about 1600 words.**

The village of Shin was a peaceful little place, seemingly untouched by the constant conflict that made up the shinobi world. A well-kept dirt road functioned for both vehicles and pedestrians, lined by small, whitewashed cottages backing onto the family farms.

Today, Kakashi noted, the village was abuzz with gossip in the weekly marketplace. With a sinking heart, he realised that he was probably the reason.

_Better get used to it._

"Did you hear? The Uchiha clan, gone!" One rounded baker said somberly.

"In a single night, too!" His customer replied.

"The criminal's still at large, too. They're saying it's that Hatake, can you believe it?" The greengrocer chimed in.

"No way, they let him escape?!" A burly housewife exclaimed.

Quickly henging into a non-descript traveller, Kakashi stopped his eavesdropping and wandered into the market square, scanning it for the inn that he knew would be there. It would be good to sleep in a real bed for once – after he had sealed his few belongings into scrolls and left the Iburi's oak a few days ago, he had been sleeping with neither a fire nor a sleeping bag.

Kami forbid he even think about a tent.

There it was. A rusty sign proudly showed the door to the Snuggly Duck, creaking in the gentle afternoon breeze. Kakashi ambled over to the sturdy-looking building. Now for the hard part. Villages like this were Jiraiya's domain, and there was a chance that at least someone in this village was one of his hundreds of sleeper agents.

Jiraiya's spy network was legendary for the fine-woven net that it spun around the five great countries. As he travelled, he would recruit shinobi or civilians to act as spies for him, going about their daily lives but looking out for anything he alerted them too.

It didn't take a genius to guess that they'd all be on high alert for one Hakate Kakashi fleeing Fire Country.

Kakashi paused slightly to gather himself, the pushed open the solid wooden door with a resounding creak.

A blast of warm air hit him square in the face, just as a babble of voices met his ears. The large, cosy room was filled with tables and chairs, with a bar at the far end.

A young woman in a waitress' outfit strode confidently between the tables, stopping to appraise the newcomer with a steady gaze.

"Afternoon. Are'ya here for a bed or just for the booze?" The woman asked him with a friendly grin.

"I'd like to stay the night, please." He replied politely.

"Alrighty then, ya room's upstairs, third one on the left. Here's the key." She practically threw the small piece of metal in question at his face. After paying the bill, Kakashi made his way into his room. It was simple enough, with a bed, table, mirror and small bathroom in the corner, but clean and well-kept.

Leaving the less-suspicious of his luggage in the room (anything even remotely marking his as a shinobi stayed firmly in a scroll in his pocket) , Kakashi made his way downstairs for his first hot meal in weeks.

Oh, how he had missed a good roast.

The Sandaime sighed into his pipe, causing a fresh cloud of smoke to waft into the air. Questions were being asked, and if he couldn't control it soon, then all the death of the last weeks would have been for nothing. He could not let this situation fester.

Thus leaving him with a few options.

He could clue in Team Ro on the entire truth, trusting them to see that keeping quiet was the only way to stop a war. However, there was a chance that Tenzo, at least, would prove to be more loyal to Hatake than to the village and turn rogue, and with the loss of one of the best Black Ops as well as an entire clan he could not afford that to happen.

He could feed them some mis-information, allow them to reach to wrong conclusion, a conclusion that would cause them to stay loyal to the Leaf.

He could – Kami forbid – order their assassination. However, not only did he desperately not want it to come to that, it probably wouldn't work. Team Ro _was _his best assassination squad – they could probably escape any other ANBU teams that came after them and then flee the village.

Or he could give them to Danzo and have them go through his sealing, causing them to become emotionless, endlessly loyal, mindless shells. Shells that would not ask questions or dig up dark secrets. The very thought of willingly sending his soldiers to such a fate sickened him.

But not more than the knowledge that if push came to shove, he would do it. Sighing, he pushed the matter aside for another day and turned back to the latest paperwork.

Sometimes the Sandaime hated his job.

The academy of Konoha was bustling with the chatter of small children. That in itself was definitely not unusual, however, it was not often that the chatter and rumour mill of the Academy playground had been carefully manipulated by an outside force – that level of care was usually dedicated to enemy intelligence networks. However, small children were perfectly suited for Kakashi's intentions. After all, information spread like the plague in a playground, distorting itself and hiding details as it went.

"Hey, guess what happened to my big brother. He's a _real_ ninja now, see, and he was out on a mission where they met a super-mysterious ninja! How cool is that! He helped them out though, so they didn't get to fight, which _sucks_. I mean, how cool would it be to take down a mysterious enemy?"

"Awww… Your brother gets all the luck, y'know. I've gotta tell my big sis about that. But why's someone we don't know helping us. I mean, if he wanted to help he could just sign up as a ninja here, right?"

"Maybe he's a ghost. They say nobody's seen his face, instead he just wears a Wolf mask. SO maybe he's a ghost of an Uchiha who wants to help but can't sign up 'cos he's dead!"

"Nah, that'd be stupid. A _ghost_ can't be a _ninja. _Anyway, wanna play ninja?"

Pein looked over the Akatuski. Only Sasori, Konan and Zetsu were bodily present, dark apparitions filling in for the rest of his soldiers. He paused until they all quietened ("Stop looking at my like that, my man! You have no respect for my art!" "Art is eternal, Deidara, you are nothing more than a childish pyromaniac.") and began the meeting.

"I have an announcement to make. As most of you are aware, until today, were attempting to make Hatake Kakashi part of our organisation. However, he has clearly given us his answer by killing our comrade Orochimaru. From now on, he is to be killed on sight. An unwilling member is a hindrance at worst and a serious threat at best, and his bounty should be more than enough to make his death worthwhile for us.

However, do not destroy his Sharingan, it is worth nearly as much as his head."

Unsurprisingly, Konan was the first to ask a sensible question. "Should we seek him out specifically? His death would make a good example to the world of what happens when you anger the Akatsuki."

Pein considered the suggestion. It held plenty of merit – swiftly and brutally killing a powerful enemy would raise their standing in both the 5 great nations and the shinobi underworld. However… "We have recently had a sighting of the Yonbi jinchuuriki down near the land of Rice Paddies. We will focus on obtaining jinchuuriki for now - defeating holders of the tailed beasts should also provide an adequate display of power. Hatake Kakashi is a problem that can wait.

Sasori, Deidara – you two are tasked with obtaining the Yonbi. Try not to kill each other before you outlive your usefulness.

Dismissed."

The apparitions faded into nothingness as the Akatsuki resumed the hunt for bijuu. Pein's eyes widened slightly as he came to a realisation. With the Uchiha clan dead and one of Leaf's most trusted ANBU turning traitor, Black Ops forces were stretched thinner than ever.

Add that to the rock-bottom morale of the Leaf and the fact that the current Kyuubi jinchuuriki was a six-year old child… _Yes, I can work with that. I can definitely work with that._

Team Gamma landed in a mossy sunlit clearing next to a towering oak. Raccoon gently ran his fingers over the worn patches on one of the many surrounding trees. "This is not natural." He informed his subordinates in a perfect monotone. "Somebody has been training here. The timeframe matches the target's probable movements. Search the oak."

Kakashi's shadow clone watched through the eyes of a wolf mask, hiding in a deep green pine. _So Danzo's found me, huh. Better let the original know_.

Raccoon spun as his ears picked up an unnatural sound. After quickly checking the area, he determined that it was nothing.

Four day's travel away, Kakashi froze in the middle of a delicious lamb stew. _They're closer than I thought. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer to sleep in a bed._

He looked up to see the cheerful innkeeper catch his eye from across the room, watching him the way a cat looks at its prey. She nodded at him slightly. The unspoken message was easy to read - _You are a shinobi. So am I. Watch your back._

Well, this complicated things. The real question was whose side the kunoichi was on. Was she one of Jiraiya's spies? A missing-nin? A shinobi from another village? Or was she related to the Akatsuki?

And most importantly – what were her intentions?

He looked her in the eye with a message of his own – _Let's dance._

**Fic rec of the chapter is….. Team 7's Ascension – Lines in the Sand by Eilyfe. You know how I recommended Team 7's Ascension – Blood Wings to you a while back? Still one of the best fics I've ever read btw. Well, in between the publishing of the last chapter and this one….**

**IT GOT A SEQUEL! *throws party***

**It's up to chapter 3 right now.**

** Review answering time!**

**Sparksofrandomness: Yup, all the Uchiha are dead, including Itachi &amp; Sasuke. I'm glad you liked the story so far!**

**Angel Hatake: Is subarashi a word? :) Also, if I had the ability to jump in to fanfics oh boy would I use it. But not into dark ones. Don't worry, Kakashi has no intention of joining Akatsuki – he kinda sealed the deal by killing Orochimaru anyway…**

**love torisho dragon: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! I'm not sure if Sandaime should tell Jiraiya or not – what do you think? I mean, Sandaime is trying to keep it a secret but it would be awkward if Jiraiya caught Kakashi. So I'm not really sure what he would do.**

**Nebelkind: Yeah, Kakashi's important people have been taking second place to acting crazy lately. You're welcome for the recommendations – I share your pain in the search for a good Naruto fic. I started reading In a New World and it was really good, so thanks!**

**Kaminari Rin: There's no need to apologise, your review put a smile on my face and made my day! Sasuke is, unfortunately, dead (I killed him off because there was no real reason Kakashi would have to spare him, also, I don't like Sasuke that much and I was scared I would accidentally bash him). In canon, Kakashi's Mangekyou was awakened when he killed Rin, so I'm sticking with that. Thanks for reviewing and for the kind words!**

**Please R&amp;R!**

**Also, story ideas, advice, anything like that would be welcome!**

**But that's enough for now because ThePlotBunnies is signing out!**


	11. The Toad Sage

**Hi!**

**It's late, I know. To be honest I don't even have an excuse. It's a bit shorter than my chapters have been lately, however, the plot does pick up towards the end – we introduce a new player to this game!**

**Thankyou all for being patient with me… I apologise.  
**

* * *

"Commander,

I have an affirmative on the target at co-ordinates 27, 62. Location is a village named Shin. Target currently staying at an establishment known as the Snuggly Duck. Target has become aware he is being watched. I repeat, target has become aware that he is being watched.

-Agent 23"

Danzo eyed the latest report thoughtfully. He couldn't complain, really – he was lucky that he had picked up on Hatake's trail at all. However, his squads were too far away. Hatake could – _would_ – outrun them.

Danzo carefully weighed his options. It would not do to act rashly. In an ordinary situation, he would simply order his plant to eliminate Hatake. The problem was that that plan involved_ using one agent to eliminate Hatake_. The man was emotionally as pathetic as Hiruzen, Danzo inwardly sneered, but admittedly strong. It would not do to risk one of his valuable plants on a plan unlikely to succeed.

A bitter taste filled his mouth. Hatake would escape and there was nothing he could do about it. He would fight his war, but this battle was lost. As he began to pen out his response in the safety of his office, his heart carried a sinking heaviness that was brutally suppressed. It would not do for a shinobi to show his emotions.

He had plenty of practise in becoming numb, in hardening his heart to try and kill his first and only friend, simply because he needed his village to be strong. At first it had hurt more than any knife, but he had learned to become as emotionless as his soldiers, to hate his friend because it was the only way he could raise a hand against his old rival.

For all that could be said against Danzo, he practised what he preached.

Even as it dragged him down into insanity.

* * *

23 was watching the Target out of the corner of her eye. He was waiting politely for his meal (_no use poisoning it, heightened sense of smell_) in the corner (_all sides covered, surprise attack useless) _of the room. Laughing genially to keep the civilians occupied (_Rule 67 – sleeper agents must be fully integrated into their society), _she kept a subtle eye on him, just as he was quietly watching her. His back was turned to face the wall as he sipped his drink, presumably to cover his face (_purpose of mask uncertain, appears to show no real use_), but she quickly dismissed the idea of dealing with him then. She was not to act without Commander's orders.

Kakashi watched the shinobi through his eyelashes as she went about her business of running the establishment. She did an impressive job, he had to admit. Everything from her rural accent to her manner of walking portrayed her character with aplomb, however, he was painfully aware of her eyes fixated on him. He could feel her scrutinising his every move, judging his weaknesses and mentally working out angles of attack. Even as she turned to give a farmer his whisky, he could see her glance over at him, genial brown eyes suddenly becoming hardened flint.

Whoever this woman worked for, she was _creepy_.

The real question was how long before he had to leave. He had to stay on the move – he doubted Danzo would have given up on him even if Sandaime had called back the real ANBU – and he didn't want to hang around to see what this mystery shinobi wanted. Also, reaching Mist was quickly becoming top priority, with what seemed like everyone and their dog wanting something from him.

But oh, for a week in a real bed!

Shaking the unprofessional thought out of his mind, Kakashi came to a decision. He would leave tonight.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps approaching. He looked up to see the 'owner' of the pub coming over with his steaming stew in hand. "Thanks for the meal." He said politely, his mouth watering as he smelt the rich lamb and spicy broth. Politics could wait 15 minutes or so, he decided, as the delicious stew warmed him from the inside out.

_Whoever my oh-so-creepy stalker is, she sure can cook_, Kakashi thought as the stew settled comfortably in his stomach. Pushing back his wooden chair and making a show of going up to his room – because he'd bet his Sharingan that he was being watched – he began surreptitiously taking note of the layout of the corridors in the building.

He could definitely appreciate the design of it – reaching the innkeepers room would require getting through the entire building, where there were plenty of twisted corridors that made for defensible locations. He thought he saw more than a few areas where traps of all kinds could be laid in an emergency. Disturbed by the notion that he was in a veritable death trap, Kakashi abandoned pretences and performed a thorough sweep of the area around his room.

Only to discover motion sensors at every possible exit. With his good spirits plummeting, Kakashi carefully examined the simple room for other nasty surprises. His expectations were proven correct when he noted masterfully carved sensory seals lightly carved in the corners of the room, presumably allowing his adversary to track when he entered and left. Kneeling to inspect one, Kakashi ran his finger over the work, appreciating the skilled manner in which it had been designed, carved and subsequently concealed.

Making his decision, Kakashi straightened up and brushed the dirt off of his worn black pants. He refused to fight a skilled enemy with a homefield advantage unless he absolutely had to, and if he was lucky, she wouldn't care enough to follow him.

He would _definitely _leave tonight.

* * *

As the sliver of a broken moon glared from the blackness of the sky, the villagers of Shin slumbered on. One man was using an old kunai scarred with nicks and bloodstains to lever up a loose floorboard in his room – although in hindsight, the loose board was probably put there on purpose. Hurriedly shoving his belongings into his pack, Kakashi performed a final sweep of the room, before spinning on his heel and vanishing through the window in a flash of silver.

Agent 23 never woke as a graceful shadow ghosted from the silent village leaving no mark of his passing.

Nor did she wake as the shadow slipped past the village guards with practiced ease.

She definitely never woke as the shadow started the long trek to Water.

* * *

Sandaime hummed as he poured honey on to his toast. Decades of being Hokage had steeled him to the unfortunate reality that _Hokages have to wake up at truly awful hours. _Hence, despite the dawn breaking over the Monument and shining obnoxiously brightly through his window, he could be content. He hadn't had a single disaster today, although it must be granted that he'd been awake for a grand total of 20 minutes.

"SENSEI! I have come to your aid in this time of need!" A deep voice cried dramatically. With a rising sense of dread, Hiruzen turned around to see his most… noticeable student dancing on his favourite chair. In his shoes! "It is I, the Toad Sage, beloved by my women, feared by my enemies!" His student continued.

_"Get. Off. My. Favourite. Armchair._" Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Professor, unleased the full force of his killing intent as his eyes turned cold. Long ago, when he had awed battlefields, many had surrendered upon simply seeing whom they were to face. Past his prime he may be, but the Professor was still a shinobi to be feared.

"Jiraiya of the Sannin, Jiraiya the Gallant!" Jiraiya brazenly finished with a dramatic flourish. For the first time, he noticed the cold fury of his teacher and the particular piece of furniture he was standing on. And how dirty his shoes were. And how this had been his teacher's favourite chair for decades. "Uhhhh… oops?"

A lecture, a few expletives and some terrified apologies later, Hiruzen decided his apprentice had learned his lesson. "So to what do I owe the pleasure, anyway. I trust you didn't come here simply to ruin my home?" He asked.

"About that… one of my agents told me what happened. Is it true the Uchiha were wiped out?" He replied.

"Oh how I wish it wasn't, Jiraiya. How I wish it wasn't." Sarutobi's mouth was a grim line as he told his student everything, as Jiraiya's eyes grew sadder with each word. When he was done, the heavy silence somehow seemed far more poignant than any words. Finally, Jiraiya spoke.

"This is what I've always hated about shinobi. About this damn village. About this _god-damned world_. The kid always carried himself with pride, like a leader, like a captain. But he's a damn good shinobi and that makes him a damn good actor, but I'm better. He would smile, he would train, he would lead, but underneath it all was just something overwhelmingly… sad. Sakumo's kid gave everything for the village, but it still found something left to take. And that's just one story. _Dozens_ of people, with friends and family and hobbies and _dreams_. Civilians, shinobi, children, all killed just because of _the god-damned VILLAGE!_" Jiraiya spun on his heel and punched the wall with all of the anger and frustration that had built up over his speech. Cracks splintered their way across the stone, radiating like a spider's web from the point of impact.

Suddenly, all of the agitated energy left him. "I'm sorry, sensei. That was out of line." He said, defeated.

"Jiraiya… your heart is warm and loving," Sandaime began hesitantly, "which makes you a wonderful person. However, it also makes it unhealthy for you to be in the village right now. I think it would be better for both you and the village if you left."

"I'm guessing you have a job for me?" Jiraiya asked wryly. "You're a sly one, you know that old man?"

Sandaime smiled ruefully. Nobody knew him better than his student did. "You always have seen through my little schemes. I'm worried about this… Akatsuki. All I know is that we know nothing about them, and intel has always been your department."

With his shoulders squared, overcoat fluttering and eyes steady Jiraiya looked every bit the soldier he was. _Giving him a mission was the right thing to do_, _it seems. _"Trust me, old man. I do intel. I'm thinking I'll contact Kakashi – the one thing we do know is that he knows something. Maybe he met one of them, or just heard their name dropped."

"Dismissed." Sarutobi smiled at his student as the two parted ways.

As he was bounding along the ceramic roof-tiles of Konoha, Jiraiya heard his sensei's voice softly fading into the night.

"_Tell him thankyou."_

* * *

**Just in case things are confusing, here's what each character knows/doesn't know.**

**Team Ro:** Since Kakashi saved them from Orochimaru, they're starting to catch on to the conspiracy. Confronted the Sandaime but got threatened/warned to not ask more questions. Are asking more questions. Don't know Wolf's identity mainly because they don't really care.

NOTE: If you remember, Boar is now permanently crippled (his arm got mangled). The rest of the members are in various states of health in the hospital, but will recover. Their hospital room is their temporary base of operations.

**Sandaime:** Knows the conspiracy (duh). Knows of and is nervous about Akatsuki's existence, but doesn't know squat about them. Is starting to guess Wolf's identity.

**Akatsuki:** Want Kakashi dead for killing Orochimaru but aren't bothered to chase him. Have noticed that the Hidden Leaf isn't exactly in good shape at this point, and are starting to make plans to target 6yo Naruto.

**Danzo:** Knows the conspiracy, doesn't know who Wolf is. Would very much like Kakashi dead. Neither knows nor cares about Wolf's identity. Is being as much of a jerk as always.

**Gai:** Is suspicious of the circumstances surrounding Kakashi's defection, but due to the current weakness of Konoha, has decided to put the matter aside until his village is strong enough to spare him.

**Kakashi:** Knows that Team Ro is suspicious and that Danzo wants him dead. Is still looking over his shoulder for the Akatsuki. His loyalties are firmly with the Leaf. Will probably have to abandon Wolf's persona as he leaves Konoha's vicinity, as it has already served its purpose (drawing attention away from the manhunt for him).

**Jiraiya: **Knows everything the Sandaime knows. Has been tasked with investigating Akatsuki. Is planning to meet with Kakashi to see what he knows.

**Please tell me what you think of this one! This is the first time in ages I have tried writing humour and any advice would be great. Also, what do you think of my descriptions? Too much, too little, or just right? Any advice or concrit would be massively appreciated. Fic Rec of the chapter is the witty, sad, exciting and hilarious Chiaroscuro by boomvoomshroom. Can't recommend it highly enough.**

**Please don't be shy to review or PM me any ideas for the story, characters to include or just predictions for what will happen! I don't bite, I promise. ANY reviews are massively appreciated and it's humbling when people take time out of their day to comment on your work, so thankyou all.**

**The above guide took up the word count that's normally for review anwering, so I've PM'd you all your reply.**

**ThePlotBunnies is signing out!**


	12. The Sword is Mightier

**Hey, it's late, I know. But in my defence, I have an excuse. Firstly I had exams, and real life does come before writing fanfiction (although not necessarily before reading it, I must admit). Then I had to return my laptop to my school, and I didn't get a new one until a few weeks ago. So I apologise, but there was not much I could do.**

**But hey, it's a long one. 2600 words. That's long, right?**

***sees other authors with 10 000 word chapters* *gulps***

* * *

Making his way through the twisted corridors of the Hokage Tower, Jiraiya's huge bulk stood out from other politicians, clients and countless others that had somewhere to be. Foreign clients stared at his unusual appearance in shock and a little fear, whereas the foreign shinobi and chunin staff tried (and failed) to hide their awed glances – if wasn't everyday they saw a Sannin. But lost in thought, Jiraiya barely even noticed the attention he was attracting.

Like memories of a dream, the thought irritated the back of Jiraiya's mind, slipping through his metaphorical fingers whenever he tried to reach of it. When sensei had told him the true reason for Kakashi's betrayal, he had thought that he finally understood the political mess that surrounded Konoha's elite. But looking back on it, something was wrong. Notable in its absence, there was something missing from this tapestry of woven schemes – and he was on the verge of figuring out what. The answer was niggling the back of his thoughts, but he couldn't quite see it. _What I wouldn't give to be a Nara right now _he thought grimly. The deer clan's superior minds would be invaluable to him right now – if could only tell them a little of what he knew.

In stark contrast to the previous stares, Jiraiya felt rather than saw a piercing, calculated gaze. His immediate guess of who it belonged to was confirmed when he saw a cold-eyed figure wrapped in bandages, hobbling his way down the hall. And suddenly he realised what was missing. "Councilman." Jiraiya nodded respectfully.

"Sannin." Danzo replied with the air of someone surveying a particularly disgusting piece of slime.

_Of course. _For Danzo, king of schemes and playing dirty, a conspiracy like this one was practically his natural habitat. Yet Jiraiya had heard nothing of Danzo's role in the Massacre. So what _was _the shady politician doing? If sensei knew, he'd have included it when he briefed him, which worryingly implied that Danzo's actions and motivations were a complete mystery to even the Hokage. And, as bitter experience had taught him, leaving Danzo to his own devices never ended well. Which all led to one solution – find out what Danzo had done, and more importantly, what he would do.

Jiraiya rather envied the lucky souls who weren't in the Intel department – if they wanted information, someone else would find it out for them. _He _had to do it the old-fashioned way.

* * *

"Hotcakes for you, sir!"

"Freshly caught today!"

"Special bargain, buy now while you can!"

Jiraiya ignored the hustle and bustle of the famous Leaf Market, instead counting the alleys as he walked its twisted streets. _14… 15… 16… and here we are. _Glancing over his shoulder to check that he wasn't being followed, he ducked into the 17th alley on the left and pulled up the grimy lid of the manhole that embedded in the ground. He considered the discovery of this location, and keeping the knowledge of that discovery from Danzo, one of his more impressive achievements over the years. It had better be – many good men and women had died for this information. He had to admit that ROOT had done their work well, the only hint that the manhole led anywhere but the sewers was the absence of dirt in the gap between the floor and the lid.

Jiraiya spread out his awareness to examine other nearby life forms – one of the many perks of being a trained Sage was extensive sensory abilities. He felt the seething mass of shinobi and civilians alike that was the Leaf Market, but nothing directly underneath him where the sewers lay. He stretched his sensory net even further downwards and suddenly felt a blazing mass of chakra far, far underneath the streets. Unlike daily life on the surface, these signatures were cold and pulsed with single-minded purpose. He had found ROOT.

Dusting off his clothes, he stood and carefully made his way down the grimy ladder. He wrinkled his nose in disgust – highly sophisticated military base this might be, but it smelt just like the sewer it was disguised as. When he was about halfway down the manhole, Jiraiya drew his sensory net back in – it was almost a guarantee that the halls were patrolled by sensors, and he wasn't about to make the rookie mistake of touching their minds and being detected.

Jiraiya reached the bottom of the ladder and examined his surroundings. He was in the middle of a corridor that stretched about 10 metres to either side of him. The walls were painted a clinical white, while the floor was grey concrete. Both lacked any form of decoration, however, Jiraiya was relieved that they smelt considerably better than the manhole. The hall was lined with a few grey doors placed at random intervals, labelled with nothing but a 4-digit number. He considered opening the door nearest to him in order to see what was inside, but decided against it. For all he knew, the doors were nothing more than traps that would attempt to kill him, or worse, raise the alarm. Or both.

Now for the good bit – finding Danzo himself. _Now, where would I put my office if I was warhawk so old I ought to be on display in the museum? _Jiraiya mused to himself. The answer was obvious – the centre. In the event of a raid, it would be the last area breached, giving Danzo ample time to both make his escape and destroy all evidence of his less-than-legal operations. Which meant all he had to do was figure out his location in this complex, make his way to the centre, find out where Danzo's office was, and find any information he could about Danzo's involvement in this whole mess – all without being caught.

What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

Jiraiya decided to take a risk and spread out his sensory net. There was nobody within a 50 – metre radius of him, the maximum range of all but the best sensory nin. He hoped there were no Byakugan users in the area, they had been known to reach a range of 10 kilometres or more. He bit his thumb and quickly ran through the handsigns, then placed his hand on his thigh – leaving a bloody thumbprint on the walls or floor would get him caught faster than you could say intruder. "Summoning jutsu." He muttered, and a warty, green toad named Moguri appeared. At only 45cm long, Moguri appeared to be a baby Myoboku Toad, however, he was a few centuries old and one of Jiraiya's most valuable comrades (a list topped by Tsunade, followed by the Toad Boss Gamabunta). His worth lay not in his combat prowess (of which there was not much), but instead in his stomach, which acted rather like a storage scroll. Moguri could carry passengers dozens of times his own size in his stomach, making him the perfect companion for infiltration, and was always willing to offer his services to a friend of Mount Myoboku. Moguri's large mouth widened into a warty smile when he saw who had summoned him. "Ah, young Jiraiya! I take it you need a ride?" Jiraiya breathed deeply and forced himself to ignore the 'young Jiraiya' comment. In toad years, he _was _practically a teenager.

"Yes, old friend, I need a ride." He replied.

* * *

_Sometimes I impress even myself with my incredible genius, _Jiraiya thought modestly. Like all summons, the Mount Myoboku toads practised a brand of ninjutsu that was entirely separate to the jutsu familiar to humans. Instead of drawing upon normal chakra to perform jutsu, summons would instead access Sage chakra with incredible ease – in fact, using normal chakra to fuel a jutsu was as difficult to a summons as reaching Sage mode was for a shinobi. This gave summons an important tactical advantage in any given situation - any sensor-nin searching for bursts of normal chakra wouldn't detect the Sage chakra used by a summon. In other words, Moguri was invisible.

However, genius had its price. The Hiding-in-a-Toad jutsu was definitively the grossest thing that Jiraiya had ever done. He had killed and tortured more people than he cared to count, and no longer flinched when showered with intestines and brain matter, but _still, _there was something truly disgusting about the inside of a frog. _I hope people appreciate just how much I sacrifice for the village, _he thought grimly. There had better be something pretty damn important in Danzo's office after all of this effort.

Moguri shut his eyes and became totally still. Jiraiya knew from experience that he was using a combination of his own considerable sensory abilities and lesser-known Earth-release jutsu to try and locate Danzo's office. After a minute, his eyes opened. "I've got it." He croaked. "As you guessed, it's in the centre. We'll have to be careful though – this place is like a maze." The toad cast a simple Chameleon jutsu and began to hop along the halls, occasionally passing ROOT members walking dispassionately towards their next appointed task. As they continued toward their destination, Jiraiya noticed that they passed more and more of them. He was willing to bet that despite outward appearances, most them were patrols and guards.

Suddenly, Moguri turned a hard left and leapt towards the wall. Jiraiya saw the grey concrete rushing towards him, getting closer and closer, and instinctively closed his eyes. Then for a split second the world went dark as they passed _through _the wall and landed on the other side. An illusion – and a good one, too.

Moguri opened his mouth and allowed Jiraiya to gingerly transfer from the micro-dimension in the toad's stomach back to the real world. With a squelch, he pulled free of Moguri's mouth and dusted off his now-slimy overcoat. He winced, imagining the dry-cleaning costs when this was all over. He had learnt the hard way that toad saliva was not an easy substance to remove. But he'd made it to Danzo's office.

He sent Moguri to keep watch outside the hidden doorway and began to carefully scan the room for booby-traps. Unsurprisingly, he found several, including a host of bombs, poisons, alarms and cleverly designed seals. His personal favourite was the one that, if he read it correctly, would unleash a horde of rabid kittens upon the unfortunate victim. Or maybe it was rabid tigers? He hadn't practiced his 8th reality quadrangle seals in a while. He was willing to bet on the tigers. Either way, Danzo was one paranoid old son-of-a.

Once he was as confident as he could be that all the traps in the office had been disabled, Jiraiya quickly scanned all of the files on his desk, looking for anything out-of-place from the day-to-day running of an illegal army (What constituted normal for the day-to-day running of an illegal army?) He opened one of the drawers in the desk, and his eyes fell on a single sheet of crisp paper, folded neatly in half. He picked it up and began to read. A heavy feeling appeared in his stomach – he had a sinking suspicion about just who this 'Target' was, and that Kakashi wasn't aware of just how much danger he was in.

Well, he'd been wanting a break for some time now, and the village of Shin seemed like the perfect holiday spot.

* * *

"Danzo's up to his old tricks, sensei. He has agents after Hatake, and I doubt they're friendly." Jiraiya concluded. The Hokage's office had never seemed warmer than after the endless grey of the ROOT base. Afternoon sunlight streamed in through the window, bathing the room in a yellow light which almost appeared to glow on the scarlet walls. The polished wooden floor and cluttered bookshelves made the office seem more like an inn than a military headquarters, and nobody could deny that the Hokage's calligraphy, which was displayed proudly on the walls, was anything less than masterful.

Unfortunately, the mood of the conversation was notably less optimistic. "There's nothing we can do about it, is there?" Jiraiya asked resignedly.

"Unfortunately not, my student." The Hokage replied, looking older and more tired than ever. Jiraiya felt a surge of anger – his sensei didn't deserve all this. He didn't deserve having to decide between killing hundreds of innocents, or thousands. He didn't deserve having to fight battle after battle against the bastard that had once been his best friend. And he definitely didn't deserve to still be stuck under the hat that was both a blessing and a curse at nearly 70, simply because nobody else could do it. He wasn't sure whom he was angry at – Danzo? Himself? The world? – but he knew he was angry.

"Calm yourself, Jiraiya." The Hokage asked, and Jiraiya's anger faded away, guilt taking its place. His anger was selfish, doing nothing but causing his sensei even more stress. He felt shame well up inside him – what kind of student was he? "I will speak to Danzo, in private of course," he continued, "but you and I both know that it will do nothing. Without violence, we cannot force him to do anything. And I don't think I could bear more bloodshed this soon after…" he trailed off quietly.

He looked down at the calligraphy on his desk, and with slow, careful movements continued his work.

Jiraiya understood the silent dismissal and quietly left, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

The door to his office opened, and Hiruzen looked up as his oldest friend and greatest enemy strode into the room. He quickly motioned for his guards to leave them in total privacy – this conversation was not for their ears.

"You called, _sir?_" Danzo asked, a mocking emphasis on the last word.

"Such petty insults, I'm surprised with you. Weren't you the one who said that words without purpose were wasted breath?" Hiruzen replied. "But as much as I enjoy our regular exchanges, barbed as they may be these days, I'm afraid that there is something that I must ask you to do."

Danzo narrowed his eyes. "Ask me, or order me, Hokage_-sama?_" He asked dangerously. Hiruzen smiled slightly – the tone of voice told him that Danzo knew exactly what this conversation was about.

"Well, I suppose that depends on whether I _need _to order you to do it. I assure you, by the way, that this conversation is entirely private." He replied good-naturedly. His old rival claimed to be emotionless, but Hiruzen knew from experience that ignoring his insults was a sure way to get under his skin, a task from which he drew a great deal of admittedly childish pleasure.

"I take it this is about Hatake?" Danzo demanded.

"It is about Kakashi, or rather, about _your agents that have been following him_." All trace of the genial old man was gone from Hiruzen's voice. Everything from the flinty hardness in his eyes to the set of his shoulders radiated power and authority. Tired as he may be, the Third Hokage was still not somebody to be messed with. Predictably, Danzo didn't even blink.

"Hatake is a liability." He replied evenly. "As long as he lives, the chance remains that he will, intentionally or not, reveal the truth about the Massacre. If he is dead, that chance becomes zero."

Hiruzen absolutely hated it when Danzo was right. "I will _not_ allow you to kill an innocent man simply for your statistics." He ground out. "And that is final. Will you agree to call off your attack dogs, or will I have to make that an order?"

"That won't be necessary. I'll send out the orders now." Danzo conceded. He turned on his heel and left, not bothering to shut the door behind him.

_"You're dismissed, feel free to leave." _Hiruzen muttered petulantly under his breath once Danzo was gone. He hated losing, and it was obvious that he had lost their little exchange. Though Danzo may have agreed to call off his agents, they both knew it was nothing more than a token agreement. ROOT would still hunt Kakashi, and there was nothing he could do about it. The only change was that Hiruzen himself would now pretend not to notice. They said that the pen was mightier than the sword, but he was really starting to have his doubts.

Sometimes, Hiruzen hated his job.

* * *

**I know that this chapter is Jiraiya-ce****ntric, but that's because at this point in the story, the plot is being driven by Jiraiya's actions. Not much use writing about the other characters as they sit around being boring.**

**For this chapters fic-rec, I present to you… the ****_most popular story of , at over 16 000 reviews, _****Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen. Most of you have probably already read it, but if you haven't, you're missing out. It's got 130 chapters (as of 12-2-17), and is basically the best SI-OC fic you have ever read. I beg you to at least check it out.**

**Please R&amp;R, even if it's only to hate on me for being so slow.**

**Well that's enough of me gushing.**

**ThePlotBunnies is signing out!**


	13. Conspiracy

***Tries to hide behind excuses* *Realises I have none***

**While I was writing this, I realised that 4 is an unlucky number in Japan because it is associated with death, and the Forest of Death is also known as Training Ground 44. Cool, huh?**

* * *

"Alright, you're free to go!" The medic practically sang. Somehow Tenzo suspected her good mood had more to do with their soon-to-be absence than any selfless joy at their successful recovery. Constantly catching your patients making escape attempts out of the window couldn't be fun, especially when the patients were accomplished members of the ANBU and so they were pretty damn good escape attempts.

Come to think of it, that was probably _why _they were being released in the first place. 'Replacing bed sheets after they were used to abseil down 7-story drop' probably didn't feature in the annual budget.

Not to say that Tenzo didn't feel plenty of relief on his part, too. He, like most shinobi, despised hospitals. The hospital smell, constant observation and gross food (which ranked somewhere below sawdust and above ANBU emergency rations) were enough to drive anyone insane after a few days. Spending a few weeks such a place had to classify as cruel and unusual punishment.

There were other reasons he hated hospitals, but he tried not to admit those, even to himself. Deep down, in the corner of his mind that still shook with fear, they reminded him of other places, places just as sterile but with a lot less anaesthetic, where needles contained substances much more sinister than painkiller, where the needle came _closer and nopleasestopdon'tnopleaseSTOP! _

He pushed the thoughts away, because it was far easier to pretend that they weren't even there. And nobody needed to know that his hatred of hospitals went anywhere beyond the ordinary, so he pulled all the right muscles to make a smile and spoke like nothing was wrong.

"That's it guys. We're outta here!"

* * *

Rosha watched worriedly out of the corner of his eye as Tenzo flashed them all a not-quite-true grin. It was a convincing fake, for all ANBU were proficient actors, but it couldn't fool someone who knew him well enough to notice the difference. There was something in his expression that made his smile look more like a twisted mask, and a hardness in his eyes that belied his happy countenance.

A week after they had been brought in, the medics had given up on saving the mangled mass of flesh that used to be Rosha's arm and amputated it. Nobody blamed them – perhaps the Slug Princess could have done it, but she had left the village and it was beyond the abilities of ordinary shinobi. In fact, it was testament to the skill of the Leaf's medics that he and Yuugao had even survived their battle with the less friendly Sannin.

He made to run a hand through his thick, dark hair, a nervous habit from before he could remember, and it took him a while to remember why it didn't work. Just another part of him that was gone with his arm. Like his career, and his team, and cooking and jutsu and ballroom dancing a thousand and one things that he could think of and probably even more that he couldn't.

He suppressed a sigh and exchanged grins with the rest of his teammates. As they stood up to leave and continue their self-imposed mission to uncover the truth behind the Massacre, he felt a kernel of bitterness appear.

_Why do I have to be the one that stays behind?_

_I threw myself in front of Taki, I saved him._

_Why isn't _he _the one left as a goddamn _cripple_?_

Rosha quickly pushed the thoughts down, disgusted with himself. He watched as Tenzo, Yuugao and Taki turned their backs on him and walked to the door, pulling it open. They were already back to their usual banter _(without him, _the darker part of his mind whispered). Suddenly, in Rosha's eyes, the simple doorway became a portal to freedom and he watched as his only friends stepped through it without him. As they left, he noticed that Taki tried to hide the sad, worried look he gave his most vulnerable friend.

Rosha shut his eyes. He didn't need their pity.

* * *

Yuugao basked in the soft yellow light of the late afternoon, as it cast her surroundings a gentle golden hue. There was a bird or two in the trees outside the hospital, she could hear. Their constant squawking would be considered obnoxious by most, but she sighed in contentment at the difference between this mundane scene and her past few weeks of sterile, white light and constant beeping of machines. She made to sit on a nearby bench, moving like a well-oiled machine, until her torso was pulled in _just _the wrong way and her wound sent a line of fire down her chest. She winced, and flopped gracelessly onto the hard metal surface. She chastised herself for forgetting about her wound, and resolved to take it into consideration in the future. Her two teammates followed her lead and sat on either side of her.

"Well." Tenzo began the conversation awkwardly. "Since we're _finally _out of the hospital, we need a new base of operations."

Yuugao frowned slightly. All ANBU teams were assigned a bunk room in ANBU HQ, and Team Ro usually held their informal meetings there. It was the obvious choice to operate from in this self-assigned mission of theirs. Tenzo knew this as well as she did. So why was he asking for suggestions? "Why not just use our room in HQ?" She ventured cautiously. As she waited for his reaction, she noticed that Taki was watching Tenzo as intensely as the lynx his mask depicted. Clearly his thoughts had roughly followed hers.

Tenzo hesitated, and then appeared to make up his mind. He didn't look around furtively, he was far too skilled and professional for that, but Yuugao had known him long enough to notice that he was making sure they weren't being listened to. Her curiosity piked. "You guys do realise that what we're doing is more than just questioning the Hokage, we're accusing him of a cover-up. And whatever it is, it's something big. Like, 'decimation-of-one-of-the-Leaf's-founding-clans' big. And you both know that HQ has some of the tightest security in the village. A mouse couldn't sneeze there without them knowing about it. Do you really want to risk talking there?"

Yuugao felt her blood run cold. Tenzo's words changed things. This was no longer about simply trying to find out more about the fate of their captain and friend. Tenzo was acting as though the Hokage couldn't be trusted. As though the Hidden Leaf itself was their enemy. This wasn't just insubordination, this was toeing the line with _treason_!

And the worst part of it was that Tenzo was right. A corner of her mind whispered that if they got caught, if they ventured too close to the truth, perhaps this conspiracy was big enough to warrant silencing their investigation in the most permanent of ways.

She berated herself for her paranoia and turned her thoughts to more practical issues. "What about the captain's old apartment? If we get caught there, we can just say we were going through his belongings for anything that might benefit the Leaf." She suggested reluctantly.

Taki shook his head. "No good, if the captain's involved in this conspiracy they'll be watching his old haunts, too."

For a few minutes ideas were tossed into the air, only to be beaten down just as quickly. Finding a place they could be invisible under the eye of an omniscient village was proving to be far more difficult than they first imagined.

"The _Dented Shuriken_?" Taki asked, referring to one of the shinobi-only bars frequented by jonin.

"Do you really want to discuss our investigation surrounded by the most vigilant and paranoid people in the village?" Yuugao said dryly. _Taki's quite the tactician in battle, but as soon as you're safe he'll miss points so obvious they might as well be doing the tango in front of him. _She shuddered as she remembered a particular incident involving a prank, some bright pink hair dye, an absolutely ruined training field and a very, very angry ANBU Commander. She still hadn't quite forgiven Taki for getting the patrol schedule so utterly wrong on that one.

Suddenly, Tenzo grinned. "I've got it!" He exclaimed. Yuugao eyed him warily, not willing to get her hopes up. "Training Ground 44!"

"You want to plan surrounded by giant tigers and-" "It's a training ground, they'll be other ninja there-" Taki and Yuugao began to protest, but Tenzo interrupted them.

"No, no, hear me out." He said excitedly. "I'm talking about the tower in the middle. Accounting for Yuugao's injuries, it should only take us an hour and a half or so to reach it, so getting there won't be too much of a problem." Yuugao internally winced at being the one to slow the team down. "And you know how they normally use that place for the chunin exams?" He continued. "I was on bodyguard detail for the Hokage last exam, and I noticed that the Intel department always watch the exams closely to see if foreign genin let slip any new information or techniques when they think they're alone. The entire forest is under surveillance with hidden cameras, and the monitors they're connected to are _in the tower_. The only place not monitored is the tower itself. The setup looked pretty permanent, too, so I doubt they'd take it down afterwards. We'd have hours of warning if anyone arrived in the training field, plenty of time to make it look like we'd been training."

Yuugao had to agree the plan was more than sound – using the Leaf's formidable surveillance system against them was nothing short of brilliant. "A problem with a lot of our ideas is that it would be suspicious if we visited them too often." Taki added enthusiastically. "If we use the Training Ground 44, nobody would question a group of ANBU frequently using it. Especially since we just lost two of our members, anyone would assume we were training to adjust to our new team dynamic."

"So as long as we train a little afterwards to keep up appearances, nobody will suspect a thing." Yuugao concluded triumphantly.

* * *

An hour and forty-five minutes later, twilight was casting its grey pall over the Forest of Depth, making even the lightest parts of the forest seem ominous and its shadows nearly tangible in their blackness. Even the blood-red spire that tentatively poked out from the canopy in the dead-centre of the forest seemed dull and muted in the grey light. During this time, when the world wasn't sure if it was night or day and every shadow seemed to be alive, a ninja was truly in their element.

In the tower, three such ninja sat around a dusty table that took up most of the room, leaving little space for a few equally dusty filing cabinets. The room was made to appear even smaller by the screens covering two of the walls that allowed the inhabitants a window into the comings and goings of the Forest. Taki wasn't too surprised at the misuse – after all, when the chunin exams were over, why would anyone venture to this insignificant room tucked away in the upper echelons of the tower? He pushed his musing to the side – he had more important things to focus his mind on right now. There were only three of them now, and he refused to let his friends down.

"The first thing we need to do is work out who's in the know. We can't afford to try and pry information out of someone who doesn't have a clue what we're talking about, and risk them telling the big brass about our questions. We have to be careful, and we have to be precise." He waited nervously for their response, feeling unusually awkward among his two close friends. He had seen it happen many times among other ANBU teams – the captain suddenly leaves the team, and the power vacuum he or she leaves tears apart even the closest of comrades as they all struggle to take charge. To his relief, both Tenzo and Yuugao nodded, willing to both accept his input and let another start the conversation.

Relieved, he continued. "The Hokage, obviously, is one. But he's already made it pretty clear that he won't be answering our questions. The captain's obviously involved somehow, but trying to contact him would effectively be suicide. So who else knows?" His piece said, he let the question hang.

Tenzo spoke up first, hesitantly, like he was about to break some great taboo. "Danzo."

"What makes you think that?" Yuugao immediately asked.

"During my years in his service, I was involved in several conspiracies whose end goal was the death of particular Leaf ninja," he elaborated, clearly reluctant to speak about his time in the shadowy organisation, "even targeting the-" Tenzo was suddenly cut off as his mouth kept moving but no words would form. An expression of pain came over his face, and he started to spasm wildly in his chair. Taki and Yuugao were on their feet in an instant, placing Tenzo on the floor and removing anything from the area that might hurt him.

"Tenzo? Can you hear me?" Taki called, panic coating his voice. Yuugao looked on desperately, feeling utterly useless. Without Rosha, their medic, there was nothing they could do as their friend twitched and writhed on the dusty floor.

A minute or two later, as Taki was prepared to sprint for a medic, secrecy be damned, the seizure ended as quickly as it began. Tenzo lay still on the floor, covered in dust and panting harshly. "Sorry about that." He smiled weakly. "I forgot about that blasted seal again. The one that bars me from revealing classified information about you-know-what."

"Do you think you need to go to the hospital?" Taki asked worriedly. "We can continue our discussion later."

Tenzo shook his head determinedly. "No. I refuse to let Danzo get in the way of this investigation. I'm not his puppet anymore."

"It's not about letting that mummified bastard win, it's about your health!" Taki cried exasperatedly. "If this happens whenever you phrase a sentence wrong, who knows what kind of long-term damage you'll do to yourself?" He drew breath to continue, but Yuugao shook her head slightly. He followed her gaze down her arm to rest on her hands.

_He has something to prove. _She signed behind the table. _He needs to show himself that he's a free man, not one of Danzo's soldiers. He needs to know that Danzo's hold on him is gone for good. Let him do this._

Taki realised that in these kinds of circumstances, Yuugao was superior to him in reading people and analysing the reasons behind their actions. It was what made her a brilliant infiltrator, and an even better friend. He felt a surge of guilt at his presumption that he'd known what was best for Tenzo. He closed his mouth with an audible 'pop' and gently helped his friend to his feet with no further protest.

* * *

Once the chairs had been pushed back into place and they were all reseated, Yuugao spoke up. "So you can't tell us any sensitive information about ROOT." She restated seriously. Tenzo nodded jerkily, still sore from his ordeal on the floor. He supposed he was lucky the most serious injury was the blow to his pride. "But," she continued, "what about answering yes-or-no questions. Would that trigger the seal?"

Tenzo considered the suggestion thoughtfully. "I don't know." He finally answered. "I guess we could give it a shot."

He saw Taki frown at the idea, and waited for his inevitable protest. For a few seconds, Taki seemed to battle with himself until his expression become one of forced neutrality and he reluctantly nodded in agreement. Tenzo mentally raised an eyebrow, wondering what caused his usually outspoken teammate to change his stance on the issue. He strongly suspected his more empathetic, purple-haired friend had something to do with it, and resolved to thank her later.

His focus jolted back to the conversation as Yuugao continued. "So going back to what you were saying earlier, Tenzo," she said, delicately skirting around the subject of his seizure. "was the ninja Danzo tried to have killed a member of the ANBU?" Taki and Yuugao pushed back their chairs, ready to keep watch over him if the ordeal repeated itself. Tenzo steeled himself for the worst, and firmly shook his head.

One second passed. The only sound was the cries of the nocturnal predators in the woods below them.

Two seconds. A gust of wind wandered through the open window and brushed his face.

Three seconds. Still no sudden pain, no loss of control.

Tenzo grinned. It had worked. Taki whooped and pumped the air with a cry of "Take that, mummy-man!" Yuugao preserved her dignity and limited herself to a contented smile.

And so began the oddest conversation of Tenzo's life.

"Was the ninja a jonin?" A shake of his head.

"A chunin?" Another shake.

"A genin?" Shake.

"A tokubetsu jonin?" Shake again.

"A member of ROOT?" He kept shaking, ready for them to continue.

Yuugao frowned in confusion. "But that's all of the ranks in Konoha." Tenzo shook his head, waiting for one of them to work out what he knew but couldn't tell them.

"There's only one rank left." Whispered Taki, his eyes wide. "Oh my God…"

Tenzo smiled to himself, relieved that they'd gotten it.

"Tenzo," Taki raised his voice, trying and failing to suppress a tremor, "did Danzo try and kill the Hokage?"

He finally nodded.

* * *

As Tenzo nodded his affirmative, everything Yuugao thought she knew about the Hidden Leaf shattered and crashed to pieces at her feet.

_Danzo tried to kill the Hokage. _The leadership of the Leaf did not follow the ideals of the Will of Fire.

_Danzo tried to kill the Hokage. _The Hokage did not command the loyalty of all of his subjects.

_Danzo tried to kill the Hokage. _The Hokage was neither all-seeing nor all-powerful.

_Danzo tried to kill the Hokage. _All was not well in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Ever the professional, Yuugao forced her shock to the corner of her mind and forced herself to consider only how this information would affect their self-assigned mission, and came to a comforting realisation. "This changes nothing." She stated firmly. "Going to Danzo was never an option anyway. If the Hokage discovered us, he would stop our investigation, sure, but Danzo would probably have a much more permanent solution to the problem we pose, and we can't risk death." Tenzo and Taki nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, something bright white flashed past the window, and the trio were on their feet in an instant, excuses dancing on their tongues and fingers itching towards their weapons. It was only when they heard the low call of an owl that they relaxed and smiled wryly at their paranoia. She looked down and saw that the tower was surrounded by a deep circle of black, the bright moonlight illuminating parts of the canopy and lending the whole forest the semblance of a dark, choppy ocean. Night had well and truly fallen. As she gazed at the entrancing landscape, she saw the white speck of the owl soaring above its domain, searching for the tell-tale rustle that would betray it's next meal. _Like a Hidden Village, _she mused, _whether or not it survives another day depends on its ability to gather information. _

And then, in a flash, it came to her.

"Jiraiya!" She cried triumphantly, turning back to the table where her teammates were already seated. "The information we're looking for, the mechanics and reasons behind an event, is the bread and butter of the Intel department. And Jiraiya is not only the Hidden Leaf's spymaster, but also one of the Sannin _and_ the student of Lord Third – if Lord Third confides in anybody, it would be him. To be honest, I can't imagine him _not _knowing what goes on behind closed doors."

Tenzo nodded enthusiastically, relieved to finally have an answer. "What's more," he added, "I've heard that Jiraiya was a close friend of Kakashi's father. I wouldn't be surprised if he was taking a personal interest in the Massacre."

"But like you said, Yuugao, he's Lord Third's student." Taki countered doubtfully. "Wouldn't he just report our questions to the Hokage?"

"We'll just have to be subtle. Asking him directly would give us away for sure, but if we just ask for some information that's relevant to us it should come across as a team trying to adjust to having lost a captain and a medic. Also, considering that we were involved in the circumstances leading to Orochimaru's death it's pretty reasonable that we want a bit more information about that, too. He won't outright tell us, but hopefully we'll be able to pick up something indirectly from his answer." Even as she said it, her treacherous mind conjured up everything that could go wrong with their farce of a plan, and she worried about just how long that list was.

Not to mention the only reason they had to suspect that not all was as it seemed with the Massacre was Kakashi's erratic behaviour and the Third trying to cover up the identity of Orochimaru's killer. For all they knew, Kakashi was just insane and whatever this conspiracy was, the Massacre wasn't involved.

But hey, they were Team Ro. Doing the impossible and working off next to no information was practically their job description.

The three ANBU looked at each other and nodded.

"Jiraiya it is." Tenzo confirmed.

_Not the most dramatic place for conspiracy, _Yuugao thought, _but it'll do._

* * *

**_If you're kind enough to review, did I place too much focus on OCs? Is the plot moving too slowly?_**

**Well, it's late. Sorry. I can only warn you that as time passes, my workload will increase and this will probably become more common. I'm a lot busier than I was a year ago.**

**On a more positive note, I've decided how this fic is going to end (although not the entire series of events leading up to the finale). **

**Your recommendation of the week is 'Tale of the Setting Sun' by PK Samurai, in which Naruto has the bright red hair of the Uzumaki and is as much of a genius as his father. It's a step above your usual Strong!Naruto fic and I really enjoyed it.**

**ThePlotBunnies is signing out! (I don't actually log out after I post a chapter, so I don't even know why I say this…)**


End file.
